Shadowed Photo
by SapphireKitti
Summary: Based on SA2B.When a young girl named Ruby,witnesses the first encounter between Sonic and Shadow,she gets herself kidnapped by Shadow!Will Sonic & the gang & Ruby's friend,Leo, be able to save her on time?R&R!
1. Flash in the Night

Hi people! I'm saphireKat and this is my fist Sonic fanfic ! OMG! Okay, I'll keep this brief:

**1:**Disclaimer:I do not own Sonic and Co. However, in this chapter, I own: Ruby Gemmon. I will let you know if I come up with new characters.

**2: **Since this is my first fanfic; NO FLAMES PLEASE! Also, plz R&R. Thank you. Please enjoy:

* * *

Shadowed Photo Ch. 1: Flash in the Night 

"Sigh… what a great sleepover!" It _was_ a great sleepover. There was popcorn, pillow fights, candy, movies, and did I mention _more_ candy? "Well, too bad it had to end…" I said to myself. Yeah, I'm the kind of person who talks to myself sometimes. Got a problem with that! Ha ha! Just kiddin'! Anyway, I was walking from my friend's house, who lives a few blocks from my house in Station Square.

My name is Ruby Gemmon. Yep, I live in Station Square and I'm proud of it! At first, it was a pretty boring place. You know, just an every day city in an every day world…yada, yada, yada…nothing new. Well, that is until Sonic and his friends got here by Chaos Control, but I'm sure you know how that works, so I won't waste my time (and yours) to tell you.

So, anyway I'm walking home at a slightly fast pace because it was night time. I mean, you never know when a weirdo is gonna jump out at you and say, "Give me your purse, girly!" Notice I say 'girly.' That's because I was 11 years old the day I met… _'him.'_

When I was 11, I was _way _into photography. I found my dad's old camera in my grandparents' attic and I started to use it like crazy. I took all sorts of pictures: my parents, my friends, and least a dozen of my cat, Pumpkin.

**(saphireKat: I wuv my kitty: ) )**

But, who I really wanted to capture a picture of seemed imposable—Sonic the Hedgehog.

Why? Well, **DUH! **He's too fast. But, that didn't stop me! I just don't give up.Yeah, I'm also a little stubborn. No… wait… not stubborn—'persistent.' That's more like it! I just don't give up.

Unfortunately, I think it was my geeky photography passion, my persistence, and the fact I was on the school's news paper cast that got me to meet _'him', _and change my life forever…

Anyway, moving on now.

**(saphireKat: Sorry, I get caught up on my character's description's sometimes. Is that a bad thing?)**

I was walking swiftly on the sidewalk and was about five blocks away from my house with my camera around my neck. I slightly tilted my head to the right… and saw something like a huge hunk of metal. I halted and moved back a step. The thing was right in the middle of Station Square Circle.

**(saphireKat: Yes, I know the name is lame, it was the only thing I could think of! **

**-sweatdrops-)**

_'What is that?'_ I thought_. 'If I was smart, I'd probably not go near it, but… if I leave… it'll just keep bugging me to go back…' _

"…maybe just a little look." I said out loud.

So I did what any other nosy person would do: I ran across the street to get a closer look. (And watching for cars, too.)

Then, out of no where, a blinding, green flashing light appeared on top of the scraps of metal, which actually turned out to be…

_'A ro… robot!**' **_I thought_. 'It looks kind of like the ones GUN own!'_

When the light dimmed, I realized there was a figure on top of it. And that figure was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog! Or at least, that's what I thought for the moment.

"O-oh, crap", I whispered, trying to believe who I was seeing. Luckily, there was a dumpster near by, so I quickly dashed to it, just in time, too, because he nearly saw me. About 20 feet away, was another hedgehog!

_'Wha…what? TWO Sonics! There are TWO of them!'_

I took another look at the two hedgehogs.

_'W-wait… the hedgehog on top of the robot… is black! Then, the other one… must be the real Sonic! So, who or what is the other guy?'_ I suddenly remembered something on TV that said something about Sonic stealing a Chaos Emerald. However, I was still totally lost and I had no idea what was going on! I would in a moment, though…

"Well," the black hedgehog smirked. "Sonic the Hedgehog… we meet at last."

I sat there, still in hiding, trying to soak up every info I could get from these two while jotting everything I heard and saw down on sparkly purple notepad. **(It's a reporter habit.) **

Sonic stepped forward, glaring up at the black hedgehog. "Wait a minute… now I know what's going on!" He shouted. "The military has mistaken ME for the likes of YOU!"

Boing! There goes the light bulb! The black hedgehog was framing Sonic!

"Heh. Very good", the black hedgehog smirked. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Shadow the Hedgehog."

I sat there, amazed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing_! 'Seeing… wait! My_ _camera! This is the perfect opportunity to finally get my picture of Sonic—and this other guy who calls himself "Shadow".' _

I brought my camera up to my eye. "Oh, wait," I whispered to myself. "I forgot the flash! How do you zoom this thing again…?"

I mentally slapped myself for not doing this in the first place. And to think I wanted to be an ace reporter when I grew up!

Okay, now I was officially ready. I brought the camera up to my eye, **again**, and readied myself. It was just in time, too.

"Now, Sonic," announced Shadow with an evil smirk. "Allow me to show you my **real** power!" He slowly lifted up the Chaos Emerald with his hand.

Sonic dashed forward. "Oh, no you **DON'T**…!"

Next, I'm not sure which came first, the flash from the Chaos Emerald, or my camera. But all I could remember was that very moment I hit the button…

_Click!_

…then I saw that bright green light again…

"Chaos Contral!"

… and I passed out…

* * *

--END OF CHAPTER 1— 

I hoped you guys liked it! Remember, this is like, my first Sonic fanfic, so go easy on the reviews; or I won't like you any more! (pout) HA HA! I'm just kidding! Also, if you have any suggestions, do share. I'M NEW HERE, PEOPLE!


	2. Who is Shadow?

Hello people! It's me again! Wow! I got 4 reviews! That might not seem a lot to you, but this is my first story so it's a big deal to me. (lol) : P Thankees to CHOCO AARDVARK for telling me that my author notes were distracting. I'll stop doing them. Okay then, let's get down to business:

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Sonic and Co. In this chappy, I own Ruby Gemmon and Leo Richards. (I need to add him on my characters list in my profile...)

No flames. That's all for now.

* * *

Shadowed Photo Ch. 2- **Who is Shadow?**

I didn't expect to wake up the next morning. But strangely enough, I did. I woke up in my room alone. No Sonic. No Shadow. Nothing. But it sure didn't feel like nothing happened. '_That couldn't have been just a dream... could it?' _I sat up and pulled the covers off of me. "Well, there's only one way to find out!"

I quickly took off my light blue PJ's and put on a pair of jeans with two purple hearts on each poket, and my favorite purple T-shirt with a pink heart in the middle. I grabbed my white sneakers and was about to run down stairs until the phone rang.

_Ring! Ring!_

I ran down the steps with my camera skipping two stairs at a time and answered the phone.

"H-hello?" I cleared my throught.

"Hi, sweetheart!" I reconized my mom's cheery, yet slightly concerned voice. "Oh, good. You're out of bed. I thought I would call you to see if you felt any better."

_' "...felt any better"...?' _I thought. "Er... why? Did something happen to me last night?"

"Oh, you probably don't remember anything, right?"

Geez... it's not like I had short-term-memory-loss or something.

"Um... no, not really, mom."

"You were blacked out, sweety. It took you so long to get back from Susie's housethat we got so worried! We called the police and they found you lying behind a dumpster with you camera."

_'So what I saw was real!'_

I was glad I wasn't going crazy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean to make you worry. So, where are you and dad and Ricky?"

"We really wanted to stay with you until you woke up, but your father got called into a meeting with his boss, your little brother had baseball practice and is going to go to a friend's house afterward, and I had to run some arrans. I'm very sorry I'm notat home, Ruby. Will you be okay at home by yourself for a while?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine!" I tried to sound as perky as possible so my mom wouldn't feel guilty. "I thought I'd go bike ridding for a little while to get some fresh air."

"Okay, then", my mom sighed with relief. "There's some microwaveble food in the freezer for lunch, call me if anything--"

"MOM! Relax, okay? I'm almost 12, ya know."

"Well, alright. My goodness, you are sure growing up so fast. I'll see you later, sweety pie. I love you!"

"Love you, too, mom. Bye!"

I hung up the phone, grabbed my camera and headed out the door. My bicycle was laying right in the middle of the yard, as usual. I picked it up and started peddling up the street.

My ming was in a tizzy of questions. Why would that black hedgehog frome Sonic? Why was he stealing Chaos Emeralds? And what the heck was he?

While I was off in dreamland, I forgot to stop at the stop sign before crossing before...

"LOOK OUT!"

I lifted my head to see that another bicycle was heading strait for me! I didn't have enough time to react!

"Huh--? AAAAHHHH!"

_CRASH!_

I had collided with the other guy on the bike. "Oww..." I moaned. Great job, Ruby, not looking both ways before crossing! I immediatly got up and started to apologize like crazy, which is something I normally do if I screw up.

"Oh my god! I am sooooo sorry!"

"Ruby, you've got to stop apologizing." The person who I crashed into was actually my best friend, Leo. Leo and I have been friend since, like, forever. So we're really close. NO, not in the boyfriend/girlfriend type of relationship. We basicly met in kindergarden during a food fight which some kid caused. (Don't ask!) Once we became friends, our parents started becoming friends,too. Leo's dad is big on computers, and he works at the same company my dad does, and they get along pretty well. His mom is a stay home mom that looks after him, his older brother, and 3 of his cousins. Other than that, I don't know much about his mom, other than she's from Japan, making Leo half Japanese.But he really looks more like his dad.

Leo grinned at me with his goofy smile, like he always does. His blueeyes were bright and friendly andhad hisblond hair to the top of his ears. I blushed from embarassment and was about to say something when Leo raised a hand.

"Don't worry about it." He reassured me. Since we had known each other for a really long time, we could read each other inside out. "So, where're ya headed?"

"Your house, actually. I need these pictures developed, and you're the only friend I know who has a dark room and picture development stuff!"

Apparantly, he could hear the alarmness in my voice. "Why? What's wromg?"

There was no use to lie to Leo. And I had to tell someone eventually. I took a deep breath and dug up the courage to tell him.

"I-I think I saw something last night that I shouldn't have."

"You don't know the _half _of it, kid." A voice said with an evil tone, a tone that I have heard before!

Leo stepped closer to me. "Who's there?" He called out in an alarming tone.

"Hand over the girl,boy, and I might spare your life, too." This time, the same voice came from above.

Leo's head and my head shot up.

It was_ him._

_'That black hedgehog from last night!'_

I gasped in shock. "Shadow!"

* * *

Sorry folks, it's 1:13 am, so I'll have to stop there for today. Okay, you people know the drill! R&R and NO FLAMES, plz! Also, I'm not too sure when I'll be able to update. Finals are coming up in, like, 2 1/2 weeks, and my teachers are craming in some last minute tests! Ugh. X( I can't wait until summer vacation! Well, BYE PEOPLES! 


	3. Stupid Theories

Wuz'up people! This is yo home girl, **saphireKat** hollerin' at cha!

**Sonic:** ...**why** are you talking like that...?

**Me:**Hm, I dunno. I just had the urge to, yo!

**Sonic: **You can stop any time now...

**Me: **Fun sucker. Okay, anyways people:

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Sonic and Co. I **do **own, Ruby and Leo, though.

* * *

Shadowed Photo Ch. 3- Stupid Theories

I gasped in shock. "Shadow!"

Leo stopped staring at Shadow and looked back at me. "Wha…? 'Shadow'? You mean that's **not** Sonic?" He asked pointing a finger at him.

I was about to answer Leo's obvious question until Shadow interrupted. "Correct," he stated. "Unfortunately, your friend, here, found out—"

"—that you're the one who is framing Sonic and tricking the government into going after the wrong hedgehog!" I finished his sentence for him, trying to sound as bold as possible, but I don't it worked too well… but he **did **look a tad surprised.

"**WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT?" **Leo gave me the 'what-the-heck-are-you-people-talking-about' face. "Why would he want to do that? Is he Sonic's evil twin or something?"

At first, I thought that he was being sarcastic, but then Leo's face light up as if he knew what was going on. Which he didn't.

"Wait… yeah…! That's it! He's Sonic's evil twin brother who has come back from the unknown to get his revenge on Sonic! Ha ha! I knew it!" He put on a triumphant smile like he was the big hero or something.

……………..awkward silence……………

Shadow didn't say anything, but raised a brow and crossed his arms like he was listening to a big dumb monkey. **(Leo's going to kill me when he reads this...)**

For once, I had the guts to break the silence.

"You... are... so... stupid," I said nice and slowly so that way he would be able to process that info into his brain. **(He's going to kill me when he reads this, too... XD) **"OF ALL THE STUPID THEORIES TO SHARE, YOU HAD TO CHOSE **NOW** OF ALL TIMES TO SHARE THEM? WHEN HE'S ABOUT TO KILL US BOTH!"

Out of no where, Shadow strated laughing darkly. At first it was just a soft, evil chuckle, then it turned into an evil laught that made my spine shiver.

His evil laugh deseast and said darkly, "Hmph. Like I would waste my energy to eliminate meer _children _like you."

" 'Meer children'?" I boasted. "Rude much!"

Leo grabbed my arm.

"Uh... Ruby? I think this is not the time to give this guy a lecture on manners. Right now, I think we should...RUN!"

Leo, still grasping my arm, took of in a full dash. My feet were practicaly flying through the air. "L-Leo...!" I stamered. "Wouldn't it be easier to ride our...?"

"No time!" He finished. "They got...(huff) trashed when we crashed into each other, remember?"

'_Oh, that's right... I am so stupid! And now Leo is going to get involved because of me!'_

"Leo," I said. "He's going to catch up with us, you have to get help while I--"

Leo, still running, turned back at me with a serious expression on his face. "I'll repeat myself: 'No time!' Besides, you're my best friend, there's_ no_ way in--"

Leo and I both halted to a stop. Shadow was right in front of us. "Enough games," he said in a dark, warning tone. "Looks like I'll have to take you by force, then..."

He lifted up the same Chaos Emerald from last night. I new what that ment.

"Chaos..."

"Nooooooo!" I shouted. I stepped in front of Leo with my camera.

"Ruby! **What are you doing?**" He shouted at me.

I turned to him with a reassured smile. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

_'I hope...'_

I turned back to Shadow and held out my camera. "This is what you want, right? My camera?"

Shadow smirked. Strangely, enough, it wasn't quite as evil as his other evil ones. "Heh. You catch one pretty quickly, girl. I suppose I don't have to tell you to...?"

"No," I said coldly. "You don't."

I tossed my camera at him with full force, hoping it would catch him off guard. It did, but only for about 2 seconds... which was enough time to...

"Okay, now we... **RUUUUUUUUUN!"** _This _time, I grabbed Leo's arm and took off as fast as I could. I was running so fast, I didn't have any clue _where _I was going. All I remeber was ending up at the park, which was almost a half a mile away (I must have been that scared...), behind some bushes. Leo and I both collasped and gasped for air like we ran the mile at school.

"(Huff)...(puff)...boy..." Leo gasped. "I think... huff... you can actually... run faster than... me...!"

"I tend to... (huff)... do that when... (puff)...my life's in danger..." I responded wearingly. I picked my self up and helped Leo to his feet. "C'mon, Leo. We need to get those picturs developed!" I started walking, but he didn't move a muscle.

"Whoa, whoa, whao! Wait a minute, Ruby!" He called out to me. I turned back to him. "**HELLOOOOOOOO! **Didn't Shadow just take your camera? How do you think we're going to get those pictures deleloped if _he_ has it?"

I giggled. "Hee, hee... true, he _does_ have my camera, but..."

I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a small film container.

"...he doesn't have the most important thing he needs..."

That did it. Leo's mouth droped open and pointed a shaky finger at me. "Wh-where... when did you...!" He lifted his head back and started laughing.

"Y-you sly **fox!** I can't believe you did that!" He wiped a tear from his eye.

I gave him a little smirk. "You may call me _Miz Zorro._" I said in a slightly bad Spanish accent. "ALL RIGHT, THEN!"

I clapped my hands together to get us both back to reality.

"Next stop, the White House (yes, I'm talking about the one in Washington D.C.)!"

Leo inturupted my heroic thoughts. "Uh...Ruby? Shouldn't we get these pictures developed first to see what we've got for proof?"

"...oh, yeah..."

* * *

Okay, people! There's chappy three for ya! Tell me what you think. No flamez and PLEASE R&R! I'll **TRY **to update next week. I can't make any promises, though, because I HAVE FINAL EXAMS NEXT WEEK! X( On the up side... I ONLY HAVE 1 WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT! WOOT-WOOT! 


	4. Not So Perfect Picture aka Situation

**Hi ya'll. S. Kat (my new nickname) here! I'm super sorry for not updating sooner! But it isn't my fault! I meant to update sooner, but my computer has been going wack… ugh. Sorry for thewait, but like I said: IT'S NOT MY FAULT!**

**Before I go on with the story, I'd like to make a few announcements. And these are important, so please read them, people!**

**1. On my last chapter, I only got 2 reviews! That's kind of sad, since this is my first fanfic. I need more reviews! They fuel me! You don't have to write something long with excruciating detail, just a little something like; "good job" or "update soon" would be good.**

**2. I'm now accepting anonymous reviews, just to let you know.**

**3. Thankees to _MJ_ _the Seal_ and_ Sonic 21541 _for the reviews last chappy. You guys are so nice! (Sob, sob)**

**4. PEOPLE! Go read _MJ the Seal's_ '5 Years Without You…' after you read my fanfic of course. :P And leave lots of reviews for her! **

**5. Sonic21541: I'll try to fix the spelling mistakes. Yeah, it's summer, so I'm getting a little lazy. Sorry! **

**Disclaimer: **Me no own Sonic 'n' Shadow 'n' Co. Wish I did… (hugs Sonic and Shadow plushies ;P)

* * *

Shadowed Photo Ch. 4-Not So Perfect Picture/Situation

Leo and I were in Leo's bathroom, leaning over his bathtub, developing the pictures I took the night before. _Hopefully, _I had taken the right picture to prove that Sonic was innocent. If not, we were pretty much screwed…

Well, I did take some good pictures from the sleepover last night, but it kind of made Leo uncomfortable looking at girls with their PJ's on… though, I'm almost positive he was staring at a picture of Jessica… Ha ha! I'm only kidding! He is way to immature to do that…_yet._ The thought of him doing that gave me the creeps. I shook my head and put the last picture in the tub full of picture developing chemicals.

Leo gave out a sigh. "This is the last picture, Ruby."

I nodded. This had to be the one—it just has to be the one! I waited a few seconds for the picture to show. It started to show a figure!

Leo and I looked at each other, and then leaned in closer into the tub.

There was another figure, underneath the first one… it was a slightly lighter color… (the camera was and old-fashion black and white camera, so I couldn't make out the exact colors.)

Leo and I leaned in even closer.

It's getting more vivid… 

Closer…

It's getting lighter… 

Closer…

LIGHTER… 

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

"YAAAAA!" Leo jumped up and fell on his back. I shrieked and landed in the tub. Someone was knocking on the door. Very loudly I might add.

"Leo!" Shouted his 7-year-old cousin, Tina. "Aunt Sakura says you've gotta hurry up! I've have to go potty!"

Leo groaned and shouted back, "Then use the stickin' bathroom downstairs, pip-squeak! I'm busy!"

Tina giggled. "Yeah, busy making out with your GIRLFRIEND!"

I heard little footsteps outside the door.

"OOOOOO! LEO'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!" Chirped his two other 7-year-old cousins (they're triplets), Tom and Tyler. Leo's face, including mine, turned bright red. And it wasn't because of the red light (used to develop pictures).

"Shut up and go down stairs! …Or," he said with a mischievous smile, "would you prefer me summoning the evil demon bunny rabbits to blast you with lazar guns?" **(Yes, 'evil demon bunny rabbits.' Don't ask! )**

Immediately, the trio ran down the stairs. I giggled and turned back to the picture.

My eyes popped out.

"Leoooooooo…?"

I lifted up the picture in front of his face. His face drooped down into a dumbfounded expression.

"Duh…duh…duh… duh….duh… duh…duh… duh…duh… duh…duh…duh…"

"Leo, stop it with the 'duhs'." He shut his mouth. I could not believe what I was seeing! Heck, I couldn't believe that **I **took this picture! **Me. **The nosy 11-year-old girl with an old camera that had been sitting up in her grandparent's attic, collecting dust for who knows how long!

"OH…" Started Leo.

"MY…" I continued.

"**GOD!"** We chorused together.

We stared at the picture. In the picture, it was hard to describe, Sonic was at the bottom, running strait ahead with full force, while Shadow was at the top with the Chaos Emerald in his hand. It was as if Shadow was _flying_ over Sonic. _'Too cool.'_ I thought. _'Did I really take this?'_

I snapped back to reality and blew on the picture for it to dry. "All right, Leo," I got his attention. "We need to get these to the White House, pronto!" I put the picture in side a thin, plastic picture case, you know, the ones you use to protect pictures.

I shoved the picture into my bag and hopped down stairs. Leo followed me. "Uh, Ruby, I hate to be the doubtful one, but how the heck are we going to get to the White House?"

Once again, I failed to think ahead. But I was still determined. "I don't know." I simply said. "B-but Washington isn't that far away from here. Maybe I can bike there!" I tried to sound hopeful, but I knew I couldn't get there by myself.

Leo knew it was impossible. "No, not your bike, it'll take too long!"

We were now in the entranceway. I was about to open the door when Leo grabbed my arm. "Wait…! Ruby, the buses go to Washington, right?"

DUH! Why didn't I think of that before? I was totally out of it today. "Yeah, I think that'll work, Leo! For once, you're a genius!"

Leo grinned at me then gave me the 'thank you… I think' look. "Well, which one is it? Am I stupid or am I a genius?"

I laughed at him as Leo opened the door for me and gestured for me to go first. "I think you're a stupid genius—"

I halted to a complete stop. _He_ was back. AGAIN!

'Ooooooooh, no…' My mind panicked. 'Not him, not now! What do I have to do to get away from him? Get a restraining order?' 

It was Shadow. Standing in front of us. Glaring at us, especially me. I guessed he figured out that I tricked him. _'Holy crap! I'm in soooo much trouble!'_

He lifted up the camera he took from me and opened the compartment that was supposed to hold the film. "You are a sly one, girly," he said rather coolly. "I didn't expect you to pull a fast one on me."

I gulped. All my courage was basically gone. My legs were frozen in place and I started to feel dizzy. I regained to my senses when Leo stepped in front of me on his defense stance he learned in karate class. "If you want to get Ruby…you're gonna have to—"

"Hmph," replied Shadow. "Spare me the speech, boy. You know you don't stand a chance against me."

While I stood there, cowering behind Leo, I could have _sworn _he looked confused for a second. Like he was puzzled about _why_ Leo was trying to help me.

"You might as well give up, kiddies." A woman's voice came from behind us.

Leo and I turned our heads around. The woman was actually and white bat! She had one of those 'sexy' cat-suits (which was something I wouldn't be caught dead with) on with a heart in the middle and white boots with a heart on the tip of each one. She put her hands on her hips in a sassy way.

I tugged on Leo's sleeve. "Wh-who is that…?" I whispered. Shadow sighed with annoyance.

"You again? What are YOU doing here?" He said, quite annoyed.

The bat stuck out her lip and gave him a slight pouty look. "Aw, c'mon Shadow. Is that how you greet a beautiful woman?"

'_I guess not. He could be a little nicer.' _I thought, agreeing with the bat. "And I should be asking YOU that. The doctor is wandering what the 'blazes' was taking you so long." She explained. "And here you are chatting with these two lovebirds…"

That really ticked Leo and I off. "WE'RE **NOT** 'LOVEBIRDS'!" We shouted in union. "WE ARE JUST FRIENDS!"

"Yeesh…" The bat rolled her eyes. "No need to get touchy!"

"Just be quiet, 'bat-girl'." Snapped Shadow. "So…" He turned back to me. Oh great… here came the weak knees again…

"Are you going to give me that photo, or am I going to have to take it from you, hm?" He didn't even wait for my response. Apparently, he could tell that I was thinking, 'No way!' In a blink of an eye, he cut in between Leo and I, hit me backhanded, but not hard, and ripped the bag from out of my hand.

He jumped back to his original spot as the white bat landed next to him. "We're getting out of here, batgirl."

"The name is 'Rouge'…_BLACKY._" The bat sneered.

"Whatever. CHAOS…"

Before Shadow used 'Chaos Control' to get away, I did something most other people wouldn't even think of doing. "NO! You're not going to get away with this…!" I shouted. And then I lunged at him, trying to grab my bag from his hand.

"…Contr—What--!" I tried to pry my bag from Shadow's hand, having no such luck. Then the green Chaos Emerald began to flash. I heard Leo's voice from behind me.

"RUBY! LET GO OF YOUR BAG! RUBY, RUN!"

To late! The light consumed me and I disappeared with Shadow and Rouge. "LE--!"

The last thing that happened before I disappeared was Leo dashing toward us… and then he was gone… I was gone… and I didn't know what would happen to me next…

* * *

**YAY! Yet another cliffy! I am SO good! (other authors glare at me) Uh… next to you guys, of course! (Maybe not…TT) So anyway, I'll try to update soon, HOPEFULLY, if I don't have any more computer problems! And PLEASE review! Review, review, review, review, review!NOFLAMES, PLZ!And I did spell check this time, so if there is still a spelling mistake or two, oh well. Yeah, I'm talking to you, _Sonic 21541_! (lol) Oh, by the way, I know that I'm so going to be hated for this, but…I'M ON SUMMER BRAKE! YES! SWEET FREEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOM! (bouncy, bouncy)**

**Sonic: …Shadow, did you give_S. Kat_any sugar lately?**

**Shadow: Of course not, faker! But I'm pretty sure I saw Leo give her five 'Twix' bars to her earlier.**

**Sonic: LEO…? WHAT… HAVE… YOU…DONE…?**

**Me: (goes into ultimate sugar rush mode) WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE! POKEY! (pokes Sonic and Shadow's head)**

**Leo:MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I mean, how terrible. **

**Ruby: (groans)Leeeeeoooooooo…! **


	5. ARK Field Trip

**Hey, guys and girls! How're you all doing? Me? I'm just fine—no, wait…(chomps on chocolate bar) _Now _I'm fine. (lol) Sorry, people. I can't resist my sense of comic relief! It's a curse.**

**Shadow: Yeah, and it's annoying.**

**S. Kat: That's 'cause you don't have any sense of humor…bl—**

**Shadow: DON'T YOU _DARE_ SAY IT! (death glare)**

**S. Kat:(shiver) Uh… Tails… w-would you like to say the disclaimer this time…?**

**Tails: Sure! Ahem. _SaphireKat _does not own Sonic & Co. She owns Ruby and Leo. Please enjoy Chapter 5!**

* * *

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 5- ARK Field Trip

"Hrrrm…?" I woke up on a slightly comfy mattress. I thought it was my bed at first, but when I stretched out my hand to feel for my teddy bear **(I know you all sleep with stuffed animals, too, so back off! XP) **I realized that this wasn't my bed, or my room, or even my house! I immediately snapped my eyes open and sat strait up.

"Wh…huh…? Where am…?" I looked around the room. It had white walls and hospital rolling beds all around the room. "Did something happen to me?" I was expecting to get an answer from somewhere, but no one spoke. I was completely alone._ 'This…' _I thought,_ 'This **can't **be a hospital, there's no one here!'_

I _have _been to a hospital before, and there is NEVER a large room that is completely empty. And it was way to quiet. Too quiet. I didn't trust the silent ness.

"Okay," I announced to myself. "I've got to get out of here!" I took the covers off and ran to the door. Actually, it looked like some sort of automatic sliding door. But when I stepped in front of it, it didn't open. I tried jumping up and down and prying it open with my hands, too. Nope, didn't work. _'It must be locked…'_

Then I noticed a pad with numbers on it, on the wall, next to the door. _'Oh, now I get it. You need a number combination to open this door.' _I wasn't sure what combination to type in, so I randomly typed in combos that popped into my head.

"**312**_… password incorrect."_

"**369**_…password incorrect."_

"**555**_… password incorrect."_

"**278**_… password…"_

"**ARGH! **All right! I get!'Incorrect!' Stupid…!" I shouted in frustration.

"…_Accepted."_

"…Eh? Oh. That wasn't too hard."

I ran out of the room as quickly as I could, but once again, I failed to pay attention to who was in font of me and I bumped into the person who was holding some papers and a clipboard and accidentally dropping them.

"Oof! Oh… I'm so sorry!" I went down on my knees to pick up the papers for the man. I could have _sworn _that one of the paper said 'The Eclipse Cannon'. When I saw it I stopped picking up papers and stared at it for a second. "What's this? 'The Eclipse…' " I began to read. The paper was ripped out of my hand before I could finish.

"Well," an elderly voice sneered. "It looks like our 'stole-away' has woken up. Heh, heh…"

_'That sinister voice! I've heard that voice before! On TV I think…oh, no…'_

I had a pretty good idea who it was. I slowly, painfully lifted up my head to come face to face with the notorious Dr. Eggman! I immediately stood up and backed away from him.

"**NO WAY! Y-you were behind all of this!" **I shouted.

"Ho ho ho ho ho! Aren't _you_ quite the 'Honors Student?' Unfortunately, since you stuck your nose into other people's business, you are now my prisoner for the remainder of…wha?"

Before he could finish ranting, I was already down the hall and turning the corner.

"St-stop you little brat! Hey!"

As much as I wanted to turn around and kick him in the shin, I kept going until the old geezer ran out of gas.

"(Gasp)…(gasp)…wait… you… little…oi." He collapsed and fell on the floor. _'Looks like someone needs to work out more.'_ I snickered in my mind. "That does it. I'm getting too old for this…" Weezed the doctor.

One of the robots named Bocoe, which was the taller, yellow-ish robot rushed over to the doctor and said, "Why don't you just retire Dr. Eggman?"

"Because, you worthless hunk of… oh, good grief. **Do I really have to repeat my self?"**

_Down the hall..._

I ran for a couple of minutes before I reached another door that lead to yet another hallway. That's when I was officially exhausted. I slowed down and bent over, trying to catch my breath. I put one hand on the wall to support myself. This was getting very, very frustrating. Why did I even bother running? I didn't know where the heck I was and I wasn't making the situation any better by running and getting myself lost. I lifted up my head and was about to run again until I looked out the window for the first time. "Wh…what…?"

I blinked. I blinked again. I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself. "Ouch!" Nope. I wasn't hallucinating I was staring into OUTER SPACE! Literally! I couldn't help myself but say, "Wow." It was seriously cool. For a second, I completely forgot that I was trying to find a way out of here. I was sort of calming, in a way, staring into the blackness of space that's filled with millions of twinkling little stars.

I also saw two other things as well. The first one was the Earth. I had always seen photos of the planet that had been taken from outer space, never thinking that I would be lucky enough to see the whole entire planet from space in person. "The Earth looks so…" I whispered.

Out of nowhere, I saw Shadow's reflection was next to my own.

"That used to be my favorite spot to stand when I was confused or deep in thought. It had a pretty good view of the Earth, too."

"Whoa!" I jumped a least a foot into the air and turned around. My heart was pounding due to Shadow's 'amazing' ability to pop out of nowhere.

"O-oh… um… hi?" That was the only thing I could force myself to say. I gulped and I smiled nervously. He walked up to me slowly, not trying to scare me again.

"You know," he began, "you don't have to force yourself to acknowledge me if you don't want to."

Um, okay, _why_ was he being nice all of a sudden? Once I knew he didn't mean any harm I felt more relaxed. "I know. I just don't want seem… rude, I guess."

He turned towards the window and crossed his arms. "Heh. Even though I kidnapped you?" I fell silent. That was a good question. If he was the one who 'kidnapped' me, _why_ was I trying to be nice to him? Or… was he trying to be nice to me? Ha! Yeah, right!

I thought it felt safe enough to ask a question. "So, um…"

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog."

I smiled a little. "Okay. So, Shadow the Hedgehog, where exactly am I?"

"You are on the lounging deck in the space colony, ARK." He answered, pretty strait forward.

"S…sp… space colony ARK! S-so all of this… is part of some space colony?"

"You got it… Ruby, was it?"

"Yep. Ruby Gemmon. That's my name," I tried to say nicely.

"Mm. Professor Gerald Robotnic built this colony over fifty years ago. And was possibly one of the greatest minds the world has ever… huh? **_What_** do you think you're doing?"

"Hm? Oh! Er… nothing! Nothing at all!" While he was going on about the colony, I was jotting down notes in my notepad. It was a habit I picked up from my uncle during his reporter days. I probably didn't sound so convincing…

Next thing I knew, he was on the other side of me, reading my notes. "HEEEEEEY! Don't you know how to say 'please'!" I made an attempt to lunge at him, but he 'teleported' behind me. (He actually ran behing me, but he was so fast it seemed like he was teleporting.)

"Hm… what do we have here…? 'March 18- Sonic the hedgehog is the suspect of the Chaos Emerald robbery last night and midnight… black hedgehog frames Sonic… tricks GUN into capturing Sonic…'" He cocked an eyebrow as if he was surprised that I knew all of this. "How did you figure out all of this?"

Okay, he was **definitely** surprised.

_'Shoot…'_ I started to panic._'What do I do, what do I do, WHAT DO I DO?'_

"Shadow, are you bugging this girl?" Saved by the bell! The white bat from before, named 'Rouge', I think, came through the door.

"Rouge." He acknowledged, with the same hint of annoyance as he had before. **(Big surprise there, huh, folks?) **I saw this as a perfect opportunity to take back my notepad. I quickly ripped it out of his hand while he was distracted and gave him a triumphant "HA!"

He turned around to leave and gave me a 'hmph'. "Fine, you can have it back. Frankly, I couldn't care less."

_'Tch. So much for having a slightly good side…Man, WHAT was I thinking?'_

"Gee, thanks so much…"

"I'm sorry. **What** was that?" He looked up at me and gave me the scariest death look I have ever seen! It was like he was staring daggers into me! I completely froze into place with my 'white ghost face' expression. By the time I regained my senses, he had already left.

"See' ya around," Rouge called out. "…**blacky."**

Shadow stopped for a second without turning around. His left ear twitched a bit and mumbled something about how he was going to murder Rouge and then kept walking. I let out a sigh of relief.

Rouge turned to me winked. "You owe me for that, kiddo."

I blushed a bit and giggled. "Thanks."

She waved her hand as if saying 'no big deal.' "Any time. And you can call me 'Rouge the Bat.' Or just 'Rouge' for short."

"Nice meeting you. You can call me Ruby Gemmon. But I prefer just 'Ruby'."

"Ruby…?" Her ears perked up a bit and her eyes sparkled with slight interest. "Isn't that the nameof a gem? That's a nice name. I actually have a friend who's—"

"Rouge!" Eggman's voice echoed through the halls on the speakers. "Get down here to the main computer immediately. And bring our prisoner—oh, I mean our 'guest' with you. I'm sure she'll like the demonstration I've set up!"

"All right, all right! We're on our way! Sheesh… that old coot needs to cool his jets…" Mumbled Rouge. Rouge headed for the door and I followed.

_'Demonstration…? What does he mean by that?'_

I wasn't too sure at the moment, but I knew it meant something bad. Really, really, bad!

* * *

**Whew! Okay, that's chappy five, people! Oh, and don't forget... REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! (pant, pant) One more thing: Like I said, I'm excepting anonymous reviews, meaning you can review even though you're not a member of fanfic. Okay, later peoples! ;)**


	6. Hiring the Rescuers

**Me: Hey, guys! What's up? **

**Cream: Um... the sky...?**

**Me: ... (sweatdrop)**

**Cream: Uh... the opposite of down...? **

**Me: ... (double sweatdrop) Never mind...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic & Co. Just Ruby and Leo.**

* * *

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 6- Hiring the Rescuers 

The door opened and Rouge and I walked inside. Shadow was there, too, but I tried to stay far away from him as possible. Apparently, I was still in shock due to his death glare. The room was huge; with all sorts of computers and other machines that I had no idea how they worked. I also saw Eggman typing frequencies into a huge, high tech computer. _'Leo would have a field day with something like this… I wonder if he's okay...? He's probably worried about me…'_

_Speaking of which, back on Earth…_

"BUT IT'S THE TRUTH!" Screamed Leo at the top of his lungs. The G.U.N. soldier tried to calm him down by baby talking him. "Look, kid. I know it's hard to believe that Sonic robbed the Chaos Emerald, but you can't do anything about it—"

"BUT MY FRIEND'S BEEN KIDNAPPED! AND YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT! If you would **please** let Sonic go, he could help her! She could be in danger! That hedgehog could have really hurt her!"

"Okay let me get this strait, you want to get Sonic the Hedgehog to save her? But how can _he _save _her_ if _he_ already kidnapped _her_?" The soldier started to crack up. Leo growled in frustration. This was the millionth time he tried to explain this to him.

"Because Sonic wasn't the one who kidnapped her! A black hedgehog named Shadow did!"

"And he's the one who really took the Chaos Emerald?" Mused the soldier.

"Right!" Leo's head shook up and down excitedly. "**He's **the one who should be in jail. **Not** Sonic!"

"Riiiiiiiiiight… well, kid, that's a very interesting story. Why don't you write a story about it, hm? I'm sure all of your friends will like it. Especially the one who was 'kidnapped.' Ha ha!" The soldier started to crack up again.

Leo's face grew hot red in frustration and did the most rashest and stupidest thing… well _one_ of the most stupidest things he ever did; he kicked the guy in the shin and called him a stupid moron. Well, the guy sort of got ticked off and wasn't amused any more, so he pushed Leo out of area that was surrounded by yellow tape (it was the same area I saw Shadow and Sonic the night before) and walked away. Leo stood there, still shouting and screaming at the guy.

"BUT IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TRUE! IT'S TR--! Mmmmmph!"

Someone snuck up behind him and put their hand over Leo's mouth, than dragged him quickly to an ally… at super sonic speed I might add. "Hey, did you say somethin' about a black hedgehog?" The figure asked him. He removed his hand and Leo looked up.

Well, Leo's expression was like anyone else's expression would be: dumbstruck and shocked. He was face to face with the one, the only… **(Drum roll, please! Ah ha ha! …Sorry… )**

"SONIC--!" Sonic covered his mouth again, grabbed his arm and dashed behind a trashcan. Two GUN soldiers walked passed the ally, hooting and hollering. One of them was the one Leo had recently kicked in the shin. "…The kid was too funny! Going on something about Sonic having some black, evil twin hedgehog. But that little brat kicked me in the…" They soon disappeared down the street. Sonic removed his hand off of Leo's mouth.

"Sorry about that, kiddo." He did his trade mark smile. "Couldn't have you blow my cover. I just escaped from Prison Island, literally!"

"Oh, so that's why G.U.N. is back in da' hood, huh?" Leo said with his crooked smile. Then he shook his head rapidly, to re-jog his memory. "Wait a minute, what am I doing? L-look, Sonic… do you mine if I call ya Sonic?"

Sonic shrugged. "Sure."

"Okay,Sonic,Ireallyneedyour elp!It'smyfriendRuby,she—"

Sonic put both of his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy, kid. How 'bout we blow this 'Popsicle Stand' first and then you can tell me what happened."

"You don't have to ask me twice." Sonic picked Leo up and dashed past the soldiers, who didn't notice a thing…

About ten seconds later, Sonic and Leo were in another ally, where Sonic's buddies were waiting for him.

"Okay pal, we're here." As soon as Leo's feet touched the ground, he was practically run over by a pink hedgehog.

"SOOONNIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCC--!" She stomped on Leo like he was a stepping stole, and hugged Sonic in a tight embrace. "Oh, Sonic! I thought something happened to you! It took you 5 minutes just to get back!"

"Oh, really? I had it at 6…" He grunted sarcastically. They both heard a groan from under them. "…Ow…" Amy had just realized that she was standing on top of Leo. She bent down a bit and said, "Who are you?"

A two- tailed fox came trotting over. "Ahem." He cleared his throat. "Um, Amy, I think you should get off of him now."

"Oh, sorry!" Amy squeaked as she jumped off. Leo stood up and arched his back that made a small cracking noise.

"Uh… that's okay—hey! You're Tails! This is so cool! First I get to meet Sonic the Hedgehog… and now Tails—"

"Sonic? Who the heck is this twerp?" A red echidna walked up to the four with his hands crossed and a look of disapproval.

"WHOA! Knuckles the Echidna! Coooooool!" He shook Knuckles' hand rapidly, making him shake a little. "It's such and honor to meet you all! I'm Leo by the way. Ruby's **not** gonna believe that I met the **whole** Sonic crew!"

"Uh… yeah. Nice meeting you to…" Knuckles said, trying not to be rude. He took his hand out of Leo's grip and turned back to Sonic. "Sonic, do you know this kid?"

"Well… not exactly." Sonic answered honestly. "But don't worry Knux. This kid and his friend know the truth. At least that's what I heard him try to convince to G.U.N."

"Really?" Tails chimed in, waving his tails back and forth. "Did they listen?"

Leo solemnly shook his head. "No, they all just laughed." He suddenly growled and clenched his fists. **"WHAT'S THERE TO LAUGH ABOUT WHEN MY BEST FRIEND IS IN DANGER?…!"** Leo shouted again, now ticked off. He kicked a near by trashcan to burn off some steam. He panted lightly and took a deep breath. "Ah… sorry about that. I'm just a little worried about Ruby."

Sonic smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. Why don't you tell us from the beginning what happened?"

Leo nodded and sat down on the trashcan he just kicked. He told the story, or at least what I had told him, to Sonic and the others. It was soon dark by the time he had finished.

As soon as he finished, Sonic got up and smirked at Leo. "Alright then. We'll help you get your friend back. Just leave everything to…"

Before Sonic could finish his heroic sentence, Eggman's face appeared on the monitor in the center of Station Square Circle. "Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!" Eggman crackled on the screen.

"EGGMAN!" They all shot up.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen!" The doctor continued. "I am Dr. Eggman, the greatest genius in the world! You pathetic humans _will_ and _shale_ surrender to me, if you value your lives, that is."

"What's he up to now?" Growled Knuckles.

Eggman suddenly pointed up to the sky. "Behold, the power of the EGGMAN EMPIRE!" The screen went blank and there was a bright light in the sky, like a star, except it had a greenish glow. Then a huge laser beam shot out from the 'star', which was heading strait for the moon! The beam hit the moon, making a huge explosion in the sky. When the light dimmed, the laser had destroyed half of the moon. The people in the streets started to panic while shouting, "What just happen?" "What happen to the moon?" "Eggman has declared war on us!" "We're all going to die!"

Leo stared up at the moon, and now, he seriously _was _scared.

_Back on ARK…_

I stared out the window, looking at the nearly destroyed moon. My shocked expression was still in place. Rouge was still surprised as well. As for Shadow… well, he still remained unimpressed. No surprised there.

'_The moon was so pretty just the way it was. Why did Eggman have to destroy half on it? Why? Just so he can scare the people down on Earth? Well, I guess his plan pretty much worked.'_ I thought, slightly sickened.

Eggman was still gloating while servingChampagne to him and his robots, Decoe and Bocoe. He was still laughing about how he was going to be king of the world (literally) and the robots continued to praise him.

I finally spoke my mind. "Why is he laughing now? All he did was take off a chunk of the moon. Does he really think he's won already?"

Rouge turned to me. "I guess he must think so since he thinks of himself as a 'genius'." She then floated up to my ear and whispered. "Or it could be the fact that theChampagne has gone to his head already." Rouge and I shared a giggle.

"Shadow," said Eggman, "why don't you join me in our celebration of taking over the world? I have another glass if you'd like." He tried to sound tempting.

Shadow was leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. "No thanks." He replied with his eyes still closed. "But you really should take Ruby's advice and celebrate when you've _actually taken over the world._ You haven't won… yet."

Eggman took another sip of his Champagne. "Fine, have your way, party-pooper!" He said merrily. "And why shouldn't I celebrate? No one can stop me now! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ahem. Rouge, would you like some?"

Rouge shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. I'd rather not drink and fly."

Eggman smirked at me. "Sorry, kid. I'd offer you some, but you're still under aged." He snapped his fingers and a butler robot came rolling over with a tray full of juice and milk boxes. "Would you like some juice or some milk instead?"

"No thank you." I said plainly. "Quite frankly, I've lost my appetite."

_Ggrrrrrrrrooooowwwwwwllll…_

That Shadow opened his one eye to look at me. Everyone else in the room just stood there and stared at me for a second.

My stomach started to rumble. "… Or maybe not." Everyone but Shadow sweat dropped. I blushed a light pink. Finally, Shadow broke the awkward silence.

"Hey, girl, did you eat _anything_ today?" He asked, still leaning against the wall with both eyes open.

"Erm…well… I slept past breakfast and I skipped lunch… so, no… wait, how did you…?"

He sighed and walked up to me. "Let's go get something for you to eat and replenish."

I was about to follow him until I realized something. "Wait!" I called out. He stopped and looked back at me expectantly. I ran back to the butler robot and grabbed a juice box then I ran back to Shadow. He sighed again and shook his head and continued to walk again.

We went through the automatic door, down a couple of halls and we wounded up at the kitchen. He opened a cabernet and started going through random foods, looking at the cans and ingredients. He placed a few of them on the counter beside him. Found a loaf of bread and put it on the counter, then moved to the refrigerator. He took out some cheese, turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. He then got out a cutting board and a knife and placed it front of me.

"Well, there you go. If you need any more food, just look in the cabernets. After you're done, just push the red button next to the refrigerator and a robot will clean up for you." He turned to leave.

"Are you going to leave me here by myself?" I asked quietly.

He stopped and turned back to look at me. "…Would you like some company…?"

I nodded. He grabbed a chair and sat at the table. I smiled a little and was about to cut the tomato until he shouted, "Be careful! Don't cut yourself…!" I turned back to him with a slightly startled expression.

"But… I haven't done anything yet…"

He mumbled something under his breath, walked up to me and gently took the knife out of my hand. He started to cut the tomato into nice thick slices.

"You really don't have to." I reassured him. "I make sandwiches for me and my little brother all the time."

He didn't say anything and just kept cutting. Like he was trying to ignore me, but I could see he didn't want to. This was getting weird…

_'Wake up, Ruby! Wake up! There's no way in heck this guy is being nice to you… wait, is helping you make a sandwich even a nice thing? Oh, what's wrong with me!'_

That did it. I couldn't take it any more. "AAAHHHHHHHH! WHAT IS **WRONG** WITH YOU, BLACKY!" He jerked his head up with an eyebrow cocked and his left ear twitched once. "FIRST YOU CHASE ME AROUND MY NEIBORHOOD, SLAPPED ME, STEAL MY BAG, KIDNAP ME, TAKE MY NOTEPAD WITHOUT PERMISSION, AND NOW YOU'RE BEING **NICE** TO ME? MAKE UP YOUR MIND! ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A BAD GUY OR WHAT?"

I panted heavily, still looking at him with my crazed expression. He seriously must think I am crazy now. He probably did. He put the knife in my hands and said, "You know what? I think the lack of sugar has gone to your head, kid."

Staaaaaaaaaaaare… 

I just went up to the counter and started to spread mayo on my bread, mentally slapping myself for acting like a crazed idiot. But he was hiding something. I could tell…

* * *

**Me: All right there's chapter six! Wow, this was mylongest chapter!Oh, and thank you to _MJ the Seal, Sonic 21541, Tanga the Bat, and Gothic- Chao _for reviewing! People, go read there stories! They're mad good!**

**Ruby: Uh, hey, saphireKat? Do people really go crazy if they have a lack of sugar?**

**Me: Well, sometimes. Usually it's because of lack off food. Your body DOES need sugar, in order to function properly, though. But make sure you don't eat too much.**

**Knuckles: (chuckle) What, is this some sort of "Health Class" now?**

**Me: Shut it...!**

**Ruby: R& R and NO FLAMZ, PEOPLE! Bye!**


	7. The File, the Professor, and the Photo

**Hello, people! 'Tis me, _saphireKat,_ the author of the story. **

**Also, there was mistake last chapter, in the last few paragraphs: 'cabernets' should have been 'cabinets'. Something went wrong with the spellcheck… sorry for the confusion, if any!**

**Well, I really don't have anything else to say, so let's get this show on the road, me amigos! **

**Disclaimer: (sigh) Again, I don't own Sonic and Co. I do own Ruby and Leo.

* * *

**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 7- The File, the Professor, and the Photo

I mostly ate in silence. Shadow didn't eat anything. He just sat there and observed me. I didn't know why I even asked him to stay. I guess I didn't want to be left by myself in a big empty room. I was hoping to start a conversation and ask a few questions about ARK and when was it built, stuff like that. I wanted to know a little about him too. I didn't know why I even bothered, though. He still kind of made me feel… a little uneasy. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, so I just took the last bite of my sandwich. I was about to get up to look through the cabinet something else to eat until a bag of chips was slid across the table.

I picked up the bag to look at it. "Ooooo… my favorite! BBQ! Thank you very much, Shadow." I tore open the bag and started snacking on it.

"…Why?" He asked.

"Huh? 'Why' what?" I stopped eating the chips.

He looked up at me with a mixture of puzzlement and slight anger. "Why are you so nice?"

My expression saddened a bit. "…Am I bugging you with how nice I am…?" I asked quietly. I don't know why, buy I felt a little jumpy; I did **not** want to receive another death glare from him.

He just simply shifted his chair to the side, gave me a 'humph' and plainly said, "No, you don't."

I felt a tad more relaxed and replied, "Okay. And to answer your question, I'm usually nicer to people once I feel more relaxed with them and I get to know them a little."

"…"

I sighed and kept on eating. I offered some to Shadow. Surprisingly, he took a few of them. Then Eggman walked in. Oh, goodie.

"Well, I see you two aren't giving each other trouble." He grinned, in his usually evil way. He opened the cabinet and said, "Hey, where's the bag of chips?"

I was about to plop another chip in my mouth, but stopped myself and dumped the whole bag into a plastic one. I held the empty bag up to him.

"Sorry, you mean this one?" I asked innocently. He looked at it for a second and grabbed it greedily. When he reached in the bag, he found it was empty. He scowled at me. I had a slightly amused grin on my face.

"You little… harrumph!" As he turned to leave, I quickly stuck my tongue at him while he wasn't looking. When he left I put on a slight triumphant smile. "Hee, hee…"

"…That wasn't nice." Shadow stated.

"Well, Eggman isn't a nice person himself." I corrected him. "You know what they say, 'nice gets nice, and nasty gets nasty back!' "

"And you are the one to enforce that rule?" He amused, with a cocky smile.

"Yes-- I mean-- it's not really a rule—I'm not—" I stuttered. Darn. Looks like he won this battle… but not the war! "**Blacky."** I murmured.

"Brat." He shot back.

"WHAT!" I shouted. I was outraged._ 'Did he just…!' _I stood up and slammed my hands on the table. "YOU **JERK**! I **KNOW** YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME A—!"

He did his famous death glare again, but this time he was standing up. "I'll give you a 10 second head start." He said in a warning tone and his voice dripping with venom.

"10…"

"L-look…" My voice was shaky and a little nervous. "W-we got off on the wrong foot, how about we try again?"

"9…"

"Hey! I'm trying to apologize! There's no need to get rough!"

"3…"

Realizing that he skipped 5 numbers, I knew he was serious. I dashed out while grabbing the bag of candy that Eggman left on the counter. I needed all the sugar I could consume to run from this black blur!

_Elsewhere on the ARK…_

"…and the red wire goes here. So the green one goes there… but why isn't it WORKING?" Eggman hollered in frustration and scratched his head. He was adding adjustments to the 'Eclipse Cannon's' main computer. Rouge casually hovered over his head. Bokkun, one of Eggman's other robots, was dozing off on the over sized chair in front of the computer. He's shorter than even Rouge and was dark, but not as dark as Shadow's fur. He looked like he had horns on the top of his head and had a belt with an 'M' on the buckle that was attached to a jet pack on his back. **(Most of you should know which robot I'm talking about from the SonicX cartoons. You know, the one who delivers massages to Sonic and the gang and then the message blows up in there face. Hee, hee… funny.)**

"Are you sure that it wasn't just a fluke when it blew up the moon? Maybe you used up all of its energy." Rouge pointed out. Eggman stopped working and turned to her.

"Well, pardon me, _batgirl,_ but _I'm_ the genius with an IQ of 300. And this war craft was built over 50 years ago, so it might still have a few bugs to smooth out. But it should be running in no—"

"**EEEEEEEEEK! HEEEEEEEEEELLLLPP!"**

That's when I came in, screaming. Eggman was so startled that he bumped the back of his head on the bottom of the computer and Rouge flew up another five feet into the air. Bokkun shot up and shouted, "Waaaah! Okay! I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm a… Hey, what's going on around here?"

"Your not the only one who wants to find out, Bokkun." Eggman mumbled, rubbing his head. I ducked right behind the computer, with the bag of candy still in my hand.

"What the **blazes** is going on, pip-squeak?" Eggman asked. It sounded more like a demand.

"Shh! I'm not here! And I ain't no 'pip-squeak!' " I hissed. I ate two pieces of mini Snickers candy bites, after taking off the rapper first, of course. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"Did Shadow do something that scared you, sweetie?" Rouge asked.

"He tried to freegin' KILL me! He's evil! Evil I tell you! EVIL!" I waved a hand dramatically. Looks like the sugar was finally taking affect.

"Who's evil?"

"Duh, Shadow the Heeeeeee—" I slowly turned my head. "…oh, hi Shadow… heh, heh." Shadow was right next to me with his arms crossed, still looking like he was gonna kill me. _'Oh, great…! **Now **what'll I do?'_

I had no choice. I had to do it. If I didn't, my life would have ended right then and there. If I did 'this' didn't work though, I might die none the less.

"Alright, Shadow, you've asked for it!" I announced fiercely and narrowed my eyes. He looked at me in surprise, but still had a frown on his face. "You're not the only one with a special ability… OH MY GOD! A GIANT, BIONICALLIZARD!" I screeched and pointed behind him.

Surprisingly enough, he… fell for it? "What! But that can't be—!" I took this opportunity to run, but something caught my eye before I could make my escape. It was a folder with the title "Professor Gerald Robotnic".

_"…Professor Gerald Robotnic built this colony over fifty years ago. And was possibly one of the greatest minds the world has ever known…"_

Shadows words were buzzing in my head_. 'Maybe…' _I thought. _'… if I learned more about this Professor Gerald guy… I could learn more about Shadow… and what Eggman is planning_!_'_

I grabbed the file while no body was looking and ran out the other door. I heard Shadow call out, "You sneaky, cheeky little…! When I find you, **I'm stuffing you into the tinniest prison cell we've got!"**

Yep, he's evil all right. "And that concludes my theory of Shadow being nice…" I mused to myself. Shadow + Nice NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS! x infinity.

_A good 30 minutes later…_

"Dang. She's pretty darn good…" Shadow said out loud.

"At tricking you or at hiding?" Rouge smirked.

"…at hiding, you twit." Shadow sneered. Rouge just turned the other way with her hands on her hips.

Shadow, Rouge, Decoe, Bokue, and Bokkun had spent the last 30 minutes searching for me. The robots searchedinthe most unusual places; trashcans, under carpets, tiles and other placed that were _way_ to small for me. Rouge searched all of the high places I could have gotten to in the ARK and Shadow searched underneath and around the heavy machinery. It was a pretty easy task for him, too, considering he was so strong, which amazed me. I mean, I _knew_ he was… pretty darn fast, but when I was still in one of my "hiding spots" (I kept moving from place to place because when ever I found a good spot, they would almost find me), I saw him pick up a box like machine one handed! I don't think Sonic could even do that, without trouble, of course.

Rouge sighed and tilted her head towards Shadow. "Hey, Shady," She started. " Maybe we should stop looking for her." Shadowed eyed Rouge as she continued. "I know we haven't checked **every** nook and cranny, but that could take us another hour or so, with this place being so big and all. Plus, she's just a kid! What harm could she do? If she gets tired or hungry again, she'll eventually come out, anyway. It's just a matter of being… huh?"

Before Rouge could finish, Shadow was already gone. "Well, I can see why Ruby started to call him 'Blacky.' " She went in the opposite direction of Shadow and disappeared as well.

I sighed with relief from my hiding spot. I was actually in a bedroom in the same hall that Shadow and Rouge were just in. For a second, I thought I would have to move again, luckily I didn't have to, considering I had to run from one room to another about15 times in the LAST 30 MINUTES! I decided to stay in there for a little while longer, so I could read the file I st—er…'borrowed' from Dr. Eggman.

I turned on the light for the room. To my pleasant surprise, it was actually kind of… pretty. The bed's sheets were pink and so were the pillows, too. The wall was a nice baby blue with white trimming. And it also had a white desk, chair, and end table, too. I walked over to the bed and sat down, then carefully opened the file to find… _just a whole bunch of stuff I didn't understand!_ Seriously! It was just a bunch of formulas, chemical equations, and notes that made no sense to my 11-year-old mind!

"Whaaaaat? I DON'T GET ANY OF THIIIIIIIS! H0/e + 5 of 8 x 786 809 – (-32) 5.65… oh, my heeeeeeaaaaad…" **(I'm not too sure if this is a real equation or not… I'm not that creative when it comes to mathmatics. -sweetdrops-)** My head started to spin and feeling light-headed.

"Augh! Okay, ya know what? Forget this!" I tossed the folder aside on the floor. I curled my self into a ball feeling positively hopeless. I started to cry silently. _'Why did I have to pick now of all times to brake down…? I don't know what I should do… I'm just a little girl… what CAN I do…? What would Sonic the Hedgehog do?'_

I wiped my eyes and glanced back at the folder. A picture was sticking out from it. I jumped off the bed and took the picture out of the folder.

'_What…? Is this…?'

* * *

_

**Me:MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Cliffy! I bet I got you all, didn't I?**

…………**.silence…………**

**Me: **…**I guess not… (sigh) Oh yeah, before I go, I just wanted to say thankees so much for reviewing, y'all! I also have some bad news too, unfortunately. I sadly won't be able to update next week because I'm going on a vacation with my family… but I don't want to give away with WHERE I'm going… so…**

**Amy: Aw, c'mon! Just a little hint?**

**Me: I-I don't think so, Amy. I wouldn't want the people on the site to kill me that I'm going on a cruise to… oops. **

**Amy: WHAT! Take me with you! PWEEEEEEEEASE?**

**Me: ACK! NOT THE DREDED PUPPY POUT! ANYTHING BUT THAT! NOOOOooooooo…!**

**Cream: R&R and no flames, please. Bye, bye! **

**Me: P.S.- I don't get to go ona cruisevery often, so please don't kill me!**


	8. Maria?

**Hey, peoples! I'm baaaaack! XD Did ya'll miss me while I was gone? Well, if you were concerned that I would drop the story, don't be, okay? I promise you, I don't plan on dropping this story at all! However, I don't know how long this story is going to take, though. I'm aiming for less than 20 chapters at the most. And if there's going to be any delays with updating this story, I'll be sure to let you know. I promise! Okay, anyways…**

**Disclaimer: Here we go again… I DO NOT OWN SONIC AND CO.! I own Ruby and Leo. (Even though Leo might not be in some of the chapters, I'll still include him in the disclaimer, just to be sure.)

* * *

**

**Shadowed Photo **Ch. 8- Maria?

I examined the picture carefully. It was quite an old photograph, with a few stains on the side. It was a picture of an old man and a young girl, around my age. The old man was bald, wore dark glasses and a lab coat, had a bald mustache, and was slightly rotund (or chubby). _'He must be Professor Gerald Robotnic! Wow… he actually looks a lot like the Doctor… wait!'_ My heart thumped as I recalled something that I heard about Eggman before._ 'I remember one time on the news that my favorite reporter, Scarlet Garcia, also said that his name was also Dr. Ivo Robotnic… Professor Gerald **Robotnic**… Dr. Ivo **Robotnic**…oh my gosh.'_

Then it hit me. DR. EGGMAN IS THE DESCENDENT OF PROFESSOR GERALD! '_And I'll bet that that's how Eggman came to know about the Eclipse Cannon. I should write this stuff down…'_ I quickly jotted down the stuff that I learned. I glanced at the picture and stared at the girl at the professor's side with her hands resting on both shoulders.

'_Oh, wow. She's actually very pretty.'_ She had on a nice looking blouse, a dress and had her light hair with a headband._ 'I think she could be at least a year older than me… I wonder who she is…?' _I flipped to the back of the picture to see if there was and address or date. Nope. Nothing… wait, hold on. There was a name on the back.

_Maria._

"…Maria…?" I whispered. _'Maybe,'_ I thought._ 'She is some how connected with Gerald…? But how? And why?'_ My thoughts were interrupted with the sound of footsteps right down the hall, coming closer to the room.

"Oh, crud!" I whispered in panic. Then I heard the footsteps stop and I heard a "Huh?" I slapped my hand over my mouth for acting so stupid. Since the footsteps stopped for now, I took this opportunity to hide the evidence. I put the picture back into the folder and closed it up. Okay, that's taken care of. Now what about the folder? I spotted the small dresser by the bed. _'This'll have to do!'_ I shoved the folder into the dresser and shut it. Oh, no… the footsteps were getting even closer!

'_Waaaaah! Gotta hide, gotta hide, gotta hide! But where? Wait, the bed!'_

Then, like a secret agent that would avoid a bullet on the battlefield, I dove underneath the bed. (Without even hurting myself, too! 0.o) About a half a second later the door slid opened. _'That… was… way… too… close…!' _My heart was pounding from the sudden action I had just did. I looked at the feet that were right in front of the bed to find a pair of jet sneakers… Shadow's jet sneakers. Great.

"All right, girl," He began. "Come out. I know you're in here… so don't give me the trouble of going through all of this stuff just to find you."

I still lay there under the bed, motionless, but I was paying attention to what he was saying.

"I guess that wouldn't make you come out, even if I said 'please', would it?" He softly chuckled to himself. "You're scared of me, aren't you?"

'_What…? Why does **he** care?'_

"Look, I really wasn't going to **kill** you, if that makes you feel any better." He said plainly.

I really wanted to shout, _"YA THINK THAT'S GOING TO MAKE ME COME OUT?"_ But, I remembered how strong he was and he still might be mad at me, so I just kept quiet.

"Okay, then…" He paused for a moment. "What if I give back your camera?" He slowly kneeled down and sure enough, he put my camera on the floor. "Just think of this as a truce. You'll get your camera back **if** you come out." He stood back up and waited. A minute went by… two minutes… five minutes… eight minutes… Wow, despite his image of Sonic, who is always running around the world (literally) and could never stay in one spot, Shadow seemed very patient.

I slightly poked my head out from under the bed. Shadow was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, completely still. He could have been a giant plushie if he wasn't breathing.

I crawled out from the bed, very slowly, not wanting to wake Shadow up and scooted over to get my camera. "My camera…!" I cooed softly. "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again!" I hugged my camera and slightly moved back and forth like I was some love struck idiot. Man, I was soooo lucky that Shadow was asleep… and like a disease, I started to get sleepy, too. I put the camera around my neck and stretched my arms out.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwn! Wow, I'm so sleeeeeeeeepy…" I glanced over at the bed. "I guess it was pretty convenient that I found a room with a bed in it." I walked over to the bed and plopped right on it. I turned away from Shadow's sleeping form and towards the wall, only to find that half of the wall was actually one big window. I've seen the stars on earth before, but seeing it in outer space was like seeing the _real_ thing for the first time. I rested my head on the pillow and slowly drifted into a dark slumber.

Back on Earth with Leo and the others… 

"Oh, shoot! More G.U.N. soldiers!" Leo shouted to the others.

"Yeah, I can **_see_ **that." Knuckles said sounding irritated. The G.U.N. soldiers approached them with guns, ready to fire. One of them stepped forward with a megaphone.

"**This is the Guardian Units of Nations. Surrender or we will be forced to shoot."** The man said loud and clear in a stern voice. _'Are they being SERIOUS?' _Leo stomped his foot forward.

"W-wait!" He called out. "You can't shoot us unless you state the crimes against us first…!"

TOO LATE!

"**Fire!"** All of them raised their guns to shoot, but in a blink of an eye, someone snatched up their guns and suddenly made a whirlwind. The soldiers stared in confusion while the leader shouted random orders. Of course no one could hear him because of the strong wind.

In side the whirlwind the Sonic created **(It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he did it. DUH!)**, Leo felt some one tugging his shirt. Leo opened his one closed eye to see Tails was the one doing it.

"C'mon, Leo!" He tried shouting over the wind. "While Sonic's distracting them, we've got to get out of here!" Leo nodded as Tails used his two tails as a propeller to float in the air right above Leo's head. He reached out for Leo's hand. Leo took it and then shouted to Amy and Knuckles.

"Amy! Knuckles! We've gotta jet!" Knuckles and Amy nodded at each other than ran over to Leo and each took one of his ankles. All three of them were lifted into the air and onto the 'X Typhoon'. Leo and Amy sat behind Tails in the cockpit and Knuckles road on one of the wings of the plane. Tails started up the engine and took off. Knuckles was growling furiously and said, "I can't believe it! Even though a _kid_ was with us (meaning Leo), they didn't even hesitate to shoot! What is wrong with them?"

"WAIT! WHERE'S SONIC?" Amy suddenly cried. On cue, Sonic stopped the whirlwind and jumped onto the other wing of the plane.

"Sonic!" Amy squealed with joy.

Leo rolled his eyes. _'Women…'_ He thought. He looked over Tails' seat and asked, "So, what do we do now?" Knuckles looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What else? Find Eggman and kick his butt! Have you been paying attention lately?"

Leo did a small anime sweatdrop. "…yes, I have. And that's not what I meant. I meant, 'How are we going to find Eggman?' "

"Actually…" Tails started. "I think I might have an hypothesis." Everyone turned to Tails, eyes glued on him, ready to hear his idea.

"Well?" They questioned him.

"This afternoon," he continued, "on the news, it was reported that a rocket was sighted going up into space from a desert a little away from here. And it just so happens that Eggman launched his attack from **space** so was thinking…" Tails left the floor open for some one else to finish.

"Eggman is hiding some where in outer space!" Sonic finished for him. Tails smiled and nodded.

"So where exactly _in_ the desert was the rocket launched?" Knuckles asked.

"I already have the coordinates (sp?)." He announced with a smile. He pressed a button and a screen popped up with a red blinking dot, which was the X Typhoon, and a white dot, which was where they were heading.

Leo grinned, starting to feel hopeful. "That's great Tails! When do we get there?"

Tails blushed a slight pink due to Leo's complement. "Um… we won't arrive there until morning." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, we'll just have to put the metal to the petal than, won't we?" Sonic smirked. He turned to Leo. "Don't worry, Leo. We'll get your friend back, promise!"

"And don't worry too much about the Earth, either. _My _Sonic will see to that, as well." Amy said happily with a lovey-dovey expression. Sonic shivered. Boy, was he glad that he was _outside_ on the wing and Amy was _inside_ in the cockpit. Knuckles "hmphed" a bit, but he smirked a bit. Tails gave him reassuring smile. Leo couldn't help but put on a determined smile.

'_Hang on, Ruby… I'm coming for ya!'

* * *

_

**There, done! I think I could've made this chapter a little longer, but I wanted to keep you guys guessing on what would happen next. So will Leo and Sonic & Co. be able to rescue Ruby before theEarth is destroyed? You'll find out… also, I don't know if you guys noticed, but if I'm missing a few details from the original story, SORRY! But this is MY fanfic, so I guess it really doesn't matter… Well, that's kind of it. Thanks so much for reviewing! So R&R and no flamz, plz! Ta-ta! ;P**


	9. Shadow's OK Side and The Kodak Moment

**Hey, people! Thank you so much for the reviews! I mean it! I feel soooooo happy! (bounces around the room) Okay, happy hour is now over folks. (lol) Enjoy chapter 9! ;D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co.**

**Ruby: But S. Kat owns me! (waves)**

**Leo: And me! (pushes Ruby and also waves. Ruby pushes back and starts a pushing war. YAY!)

* * *

**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 9- Shadow's OK Side and the Kodak Moment

I was in a huge room, with a large creature in the center of it. Every thing was going to fast. The creature swung its tail and groups of people were swept into the wall. Soldiers were trying to raise their guns toward the creature, but made some sort of beam and blasted all of them. Nothing could stop this thing… it would destroy everyone… it was a killing machine. The creature swung its tail at the wall and made the ceiling crumble. I ducked to my knees and covered my head with both of my hands._ 'Someone… anyone… help me!'_ I pleaded in my mind.

I felt some ones hands on both of my shoulders, trying to force me to stand up.I looked up to find an old man with a lab coat and a long, bushy, gray mustache. _'P-Professor Gerald?'_

"Hey, how did you get here?" He asked me urgently. His voice was a little weary, because of all the chaos that the monster was causing. I looked up at him wide eyed. That was a good question; how _did_ I get here? He shook his head. "Get up," he ordered me, "it's not safe here—" Suddenly, there was a bright light. I couldn't see any thing… it felt like I was falling into a black hole, but I heard people talking and screaming…

"…A GIANT, BIONICAL LIZARD!"

"We're all gong to die!"

_Hey, girly, wake up_. 

"Face the wrath of the Eggman Empire!"

"Maria…?"

_Ruby…? Can you hear me?_

"The Eclipse Cannon."

"RUBY LET GO!"

_Kid, you need to wake up…!_

"You are my prisoner for the remainder of…"

"You're my friend, Ruby."

_"RUBY! WAKE UP! NOW!"_

"**AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**" I let out the loudest scream in my life. Then I felt someone's hand cover my mouth. I finally opened my eyes to realize that it was a gloved hand covering my mouth followed by a black arm with a red streak. Shadow was the one who woke me up from my nightmare. Tears rolled down my face onto Shadow's hand. My sobs were muffled do to Shadow's hand. I couldn't hold it in. I was just so scared. I had to let it all out, but in front of Shadow? It didn't matter any more, I just had to cry.

"Hey, you're getting my hand wet." He said in an annoyed tone. I stopped crying and shifted my eyes towards him. I made an 'ahem' sound and pointed to his hand which was still on my mouth. He sighed and removed his hand, slowly. I sniffled and wiped my eyes.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled. I squeezed my knees to my chest and hugged them. "I just got scared 'cause of my nightmare… I don't mean to be a crybaby. Sorry…"

"That's it?" He questioned. "A nightmare? _That's _what scared you?" He gave me a petty expression.

"Wh-what do y-you mean, 'that's it?'!" I stuttered. "The nightmare I had was seriously scary! I bet it's probably scarier than anything that YOU dreamt about!"

He scowled at me, then turned the other way. "It might be hard to imagine, but I've had nightmares, too, girl. Except…" There was a slight pause in his sentence. "…mine was **_real_**." My eyes widen. _'What? His was real? So… did something really bad happen to him? It's kind of hard to imagine, though. But… maybe… that's why Shadow… is…'_

He turned to look back at me. "But it's none of your concern, so don't even ask, you got it?" His tone didn't sound threatening… it sounded more like he was making sure I really did understand. I gulped to clear my throat and nodded. I decided to change the subject.

"So, what time is it?" I asked Shadow.

"In your time, it would be… 9:02 am." He answered. "Is this around the time when you have breakfast?"

"Um… yes…"

"Alright, this way. I can't trust leaving you by yourself for so you won't run off again."

"That's perfectly understandable." I did a fake smile. I looked back at the dresser next to the bed. Looks like I would need to come back later to get that file…

"What are you looking back for?"

"Eh? Er, nothing, nothing at all." I responded. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"If you need to ask something, ask now before I change my mind."

I blushed a little. "Well, I-it's just that… I was just wondering…" I took a deep breath. "Is there any giant bionic lizard on the ARK, by any chance…?"

He looked at me with a mixture of shock and confusion. I sort of felt stupid for asking. "Augh! S-sorry! I- um…"

"So, that's what your nightmare was about, huh?" He asked emotionless. I looked down at the ground and nodded. "See, _that's_ what happens when you consume too much sugar." He stated plainly and continued walking. I stood there and stared at him.

"Hey! You didn't answer my question." I called out.

He paused for a minute and then he completely ignored me and kept walking! How rude was that! "YO!" I called out a little louder this time. "Are you deaf? Ya know, it's impolite not to acknowledge someone when they ask a question!" I pursued after him, determined to get _something_ out of him.

"You didn't say I had to answer." He said defensively. "**AND,** it's not your job to know everything in the universe." He sounded a little annoyed and kept walking at a semi-fast paste.

"True, but it will be once I become a reporter/photographer someday, and my intuition tells me that you're hiding something." I said triumphantly. "And if you don't tell me, I'll find out my own way. I could always go exploring around here, or maybe I could get Eggman's dummy robots to say something…" I decided to spook him out with a slightly evil grin. "I WILL found out Shadow… one way, or another…"

He gave me a warning look. _'Heh… gotcha, __Blacky._' I sneered in my mind. I thought I seriously made him a little nervous. I'd show him who was the top dog! He turned around again. _'Bet he's hiding that nervous face of his. Ha ha! Well, Shadow, you __should be afraid. Be very, very afraid! Heh, heh, heh…' _I thought, surprisingly, evilly…! Usually, I'm always _Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops_, if you know what I mean. I'm mostly sweat on the inside and out, but, sometimes, when I have a grudge against someone, or I felt very competitive, I would show some of my 'sour' side of my _Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops_ personality.

"Humph. If you think that petty threats are going to scare me, than you would make one pathetic villain, if you weren't so 'good.' "

'_Huh…? Did he just diss me…!'_ I looked at him with my mouth agape. He really DID just diss me! That… that… that…! But, he did have a point.

"Yeah, I know." I said calmly. He finally made eye contact with me again. I tried to sound as sincere as possible. "I know I'm not what you would call… 'dark' or 'evil'. I don't even come close to that. And I don't want to. And I don't really care if you hate me for that. And if you don't, I'd probably feel better, too. And I know that my words might seem insignificant to you because I'm just a kid, and I'm annoying, nosey, a little immature to understand some things…"

When I look up he had a, well I wouldn't say nice grin, but sure enough, he was… grinning slightly. It wasn't like a warm, friendly grin I got from my parents, my brother, or Leo, though. This grin, seemed to be in a class of it's own. 'The Shadowed Grin.' Yeah, that would make a nice title, I think. I cocked my head to the side.

"What are you smiling for?" I asked nicely.

"Heh… actually, I'm not to sure myself. I think it's because, you remind me of someone."

"Really, how?" He didn't give me a response. It was deathly silent before I broke it. "Okay, tell ya what. Since I'm such a _Ms. Goody-Goody-Gumdrops_," It looked like Shadow was about to make a smart remark to my 'title', "yes, I know that's lame, so don't even respond to that." He shut his mouth as I continued. "Anyway, since I'm such a good person, I'll back off on your personal life and such, since I can understand not wanting to be social at times." He opened his mouth. "Please let me finish before you criticize me on 'how I know nothing about you and how I should stop judging people before I really get to know them' ". He shut his mouth once more. "So anyways, I'll do that if you let me have a little more freedom around the ARK. As much as how great the view is, I get bored pretty easily, and if I get bored, I promise you, I might accidentally brake something or other, just to let you know."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…You can talk now."

"Oh. Anyway, fine, I'll let you have more freedom, but on one condition." I braced myself. "You have to show me a little more respect to your superiors. Remember: _I'm_ the one in charge of watching you, and you don't want me to send you into a black hole if I'm angry."

"Does this mean I can't call you **Blacky** anymore?" I gave him the ol' puppy eyes, just for kicks. He backed his head slightly as soon as he made contact with my large, brown, eyes. I could have sworn his eye twitched again. He almost looked terrified. I pulled back and gasped.

"Oh, my gosh! I just freaked out Shadow the Hedgehog! Go me! Woo-hoo!" I jumped up and down in joy.

"If there was a prize for this, it would be for '_The Most Weirdest Human in the Universe_.' " He said. I chuckled.

"Ha ha! You think I'm weird? You haven't meet Leo yet! Oh, wait, yes you have. I forgot."

He tilted his head and gave me a 'Huh? Who?' look.

"He's the guy who was with me before you, um, smacked me and took my camera. You know, he has blond hair and blue eyes." I said, trying to jog his memory. He nodded slightly in reminiscing.

"Ah. Yes now I remember, the kid that was trying to help you, right?"

"Uh, yes…" I said. _'That's right, Leo still must be on Earth trying to find a way to rescue me… he probably won't stop until he does, too. Leo, PLEASE don't get yourself killed!'_ I prayed. My stomach started to grumble again and I immediately clutched it.

"I'll be right back." Shadow said and then went super sonic and left.

"Eh?" I looked up and down the hallway. "Where did he…?" Half a second later, he was right next to me with a granola bar and a drinkable yogurt.

"Here. Breakfast." He handed me the food.

"Thanks." I unwrapped the granola bar and started to eat it. I took a look of my surroundings and realized that we were back at the lounging deck, when I first had an actual conversation with Shadow. We were actually standing in front of the huge window that I stared out of the other day. _'That's odd… I don't remember standing here a second ago. Weird… oh, well. Guess I wasn't paying attention.' _I thought. "Hey, Shadow, where's Rouge, Dr. Eggman and everyone else today?"

"Aw, how nice! Ruby wants to see me!" I heard a female voice behind Shadow and I.

"Hi Rouge." I said.

"Hey, kiddo." She winked at me. "Is **Blacky** treating you okay?"

"Shadow." I corrected her. Then I bent down and whispered into her ear, "He doesn't like to be called Bl—uh, the 'B' word." **(No, I'm not talking about the bad "B" word for those of you who have dirty minds. No offence… heh.)**

"Well, that's one of the reasons why I call him that. It's fun to call a boy something that ticks him off. It's just so funny to see their expression!" Rouge laughed a bit.

I cocked my head to the side, looking curious. "Huh? It is? Really?"

"ROUGE, DON'T YOU **DARE **ENCOURAGE HER AGAIN!" Shadow shouted giving Rouge his oh-so-famous-death-glare. Due to Shadow's outburst, I practically jumped at least two feet in the air. "Besides, it's _your _fault she started to call me 'it'!"

"Oh, so now it's all my fault?" Rouge crossed her arms.

'_Heh, heh! Those two are actually kind of funny when they fight… not that I like fighting, but this would make one heck of a Kodak moment! Hmm… speaking of which…'_

I quickly loaded my camera with extra film I got, with out Shadow or Rouge noticing and pressed the 'take' button.

_Click!_

"Huh?" Shadow and Rouge both said when they looked up. I smiled and rubbed the back of my head.

"Hee, hee! Sorry, but it looked so funny when you two were fighting that I couldn't resist! Well, thanks for the Kodak moment! Later!" And I took off.

"RUUUUUBYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

I ran bloody murder down the hall while laughing my head off to escape the two. _'Well, I've had my fun, but now it's time to get serious! I've got to find a way to stop Eggman!'

* * *

_

**Hahahahahahaha! I just couldn't resist to put in that last part! Hahahahaha! (wipes tear) Phew… anyway I have yet another announcement to make. I was going to save this for when Iwrite the last chapter, but I didn't want to surprise you all and make you guys hate me so here it is: The good is that I'm thinking about making a sequel for this story. The bad is that I'm not going to make it right after this story. Sorry! Look, before all of you flip on me (Like I know MJ would… no offence, MJ! You're the best!) let me explain. I promised my friend, Lucile, that I'd publish an InuYasha fanfic that we were both working on since FOREVER, and I said that I'd do it as soon as this one is done. And usually, I publish one story at a time so I'm not riddled with stress of updating and work. But, I WILL promise you, I'm thinking about a sequel. I need ideas though. Please don't offer them until I'm done with this fanfic, though! And please, please, please, please, please, please don't hate me! I always try to keep my promises, so bear with me, people. And if any of you are InuYasha fans, come read my next fanfic!**

**Thank you all for… well, everything, R&R, no flamz, and uh… that's it. I'll see ya'll next time!**


	10. Secret Agents!

**Aloha, peoples!**

…

…

…

…

**Well, I don't have anything else to say (surprisingly 0.o) so, here's the tenth chapter! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co. I own Ruby and Leo.

* * *

**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 10- Secret Agents!

"Oh, Ruuuuubbbyyyyyyyyy…" Rouge called out as if I was a lost puppy. "Come out, come out, where ever you are…" She sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, c'mon, Ruby. It's not like I'll_ steal_ your camera, like we know Shadow would. Heck, he'd probably smash it into a million pieces after what you did, but I personally don't care. I guess it _was_ sort of funny."

I was sick and tired of hiding all the time, and I knew that Rouge wouldn't kill me, so I came out from behind a huge machine thing-a-ma-jig. "Duh! It wasn't funny. It was hysterical! You guys could have been an old married couple in a past life, maybe! Ha ha!"

Rouge made a 'tch' sound and replied. "Oh puh-lease! Shadow and I are just partners, and besides, he's always Mr. Grouch. He doesn't show any emotion. I like to mess around with men just to see their reaction, but with Shadow, it's a total bore. Not like Knuckie…"

I cocked my head to the side. "Huh? Who?" I asked in confusion. Rouge turned the other way.

"Oh, no one. Just a boy I like to tease." She said coolly.

"Hey, it's not nice to tease! I bet that guy has feelings to, and I don't even know him!" I said defensively. I sometimes got teased at school because I was a photographer geek and the fact that my _best friend_ was a_ guy_. (Honestly, what's wrong with that?) They would sometimes think that we were actually _more_ than just friends (which I honestly can tell you we weren't) and well… if you have been in this situation before, you'd understand what I'm talking about (so bear with me, people).

She turned back to me and looked at me in disbelief. "Wait… you mean… you haven't figured out who I was even talking about yet…?"

"Uh… no. Should I?"

She studied the dumb expression I had on my face, and then shook her head in pity. "Sigh… I guess you're not as smart as I thought you were, even though you stole the file on Professor Gerald."

"HEY I'M NOT… wait," I stopped in the middle of my sentence. My eyes were dinner plates. I slowly raised a finger to her. My voice was a little shaken. "…what… did you… say?" She gave me one of her sly looks.

_'HOW…? HOW DID SHE KNOW! OH, MAAAAAAN! I'M IN SO MUCH—'_

"Look, before you start spazzing out, kiddo, you are _not_ in trouble, okay? Actually, it was a good thing that you swiped this." She held out the file I 'borrowed' from Eggman the other day. "I actually thought that I would have to go through the trouble to steal it myself. You're pretty sly for and 11-year-old." I just stood there and stared at her.

I finally found the words to say. "Who… are you, really?" I didn't back away, though. I truthfully didn't feel threatened in any way, surprisingly.

"Secret Agent Rouge for the President of the United States of America." She flipped out her badge with her ID on it.

Stare… Twitch… 

"Meaning I'm one of the good guys." She rolled her eyes.

"O-oh, right! Of course you-you are!" I said slightly startled. _'Wow…! A real secret agent! I knew she was one of the good guys! This is soooo cool!'_

"Anyway, let me skip to the point; we believe…"

"Who's 'we'?" I interrupted.

"The president, his advisors, the government, etc." She stated. "**_Anyways_**, we believe that Eggman might have found some top secret weapon that's powerful enough to make him 'emperor'. We don't know what the weapon is, but we do know it by it's code name," she paused for a moment. " 'Project: Shadow' ". She finished.

" 'Project: Shadow?' " I echoed. Why did that sound so familiar? Could it have something to do with the REAL Shadow? But, that was impossible! Then again… Shadow _was _little different from Sonic and his friends, so maybe, just maybe…

"Does it have any connection with Shadow, as in 'Shadow the Hedgehog'?" I asked. She shook her head.

"That's what I'm wondering. It is possible, though. I mean, you have seen how powerful he is, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "So, what do you want from** me**?"

She looked up at me with a slightly serious smile. "Your help." She replied. "But don't worry," She floated up to my shoulder and patted me on the back. "I won't make you do anything drastic after everything that you've been through, you poor girl." She gave me a sympathetic smile, with a hint of slyness, as usual.

"Well, at least _someone _understands me." I sighed. I turned back at her with a small spark of determination. "I'll help you in anyway I can! There's no way I'm gonna let Eggman take over the Earth!" I raised my fists, as if I was personally going to knock him out my self.

"That's what I want to hear!" Rouge nodded her head. "You're actually a very brave girl, we could use someone like you for our next secret agent."

I blushed from embarrassment. Was I really being praised from a secret agent? I waved my hands rapidly. "W-w-well, thanks for the complement, but I don't think I'm quite old enough yet! And I'm just into photography, but then again, it would be kinda cool to become a secret agent…"

"Hey, I'm not putting any pressure on you, kiddo, but I do really need your help, and if you do help, I'll get you back to your family."

'_My family… I almost forgot. My mom I is probably worried sick about me. Dad has probably already posted 'lost' adds all over the internet by now and has e-mail to every single person we know. And I'm sure that Ricky is missing me by now, wondering if I'll be home soon so I can play with him again, like I always do… I… never realized that I miss them… I MISS THEM SO MUCH!'_

I was on the brink of tears, but I knew I had to stay strong! It looked like the only way I was ever going to see my family again was to help out Rouge. She blinked at me. I quickly rubbed my eyes and put on my determined, yet kind of nervous look.

"Alright," she whispered. "This is what you have to do…"

_Elsewhere, just outside of Earth's atmosphere…_

"Gaaah…!" Leo groaned, rubbing his head. "I thought for **sure** we were gonna get killed…! Man, that was scary! That Egg Golem thing was **HUUUUUGE!**"

Leo, Sonic and the gang had just barely escaped being squashed like pancakes in Eggman's Pyramid Base in the desert. They had found out that Eggman was hiding in the space colony, ARK, and found an extra rocket and launched themselves up into space… after they defeated the Egg Golem. **(If you have played Sonic Adv. 2 Battle, you know which boss I'm talking about.) **Leo couldn't stop talking about how exciting the battle was… and how he nearly got killed by trying to help… poor Leo.

"And YOU almost got squashed!" Amy added while handing him an ice pack. "Next time, leave it to the boys to do the smashing and bashing."

"_But I AM a boy!"_ He scowled. Sonic and Knuckles sweatdropped.

"Um," Sonic began. "I think what Amy is trying to say is, 'Thanks for distracting the Egg Golem for Sonic, but try not to do anything that reckless next time.' "

Leo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Hey, I had to do _something_, otherwise, Sonic would've been a pancake! And plus, it's just a bump, it's not like I need to get head surgery or something." Knuckles was in the chair to his left, with his arms crossed and chuckled a bit.

"Heh, if you hit your head a like that again, not even **head surgery** is going to help you." He joked. Leo threw up his hands dramatically.

"Is everyone in the world against me because I **helped** someone today? I should be praised for helping for once! Not criticized!" Leo pouted.

"You're actually right, Leo." Tails stated. "If you weren't there at the time, Sonic might have… well, no offence, Sonic, but I don't think that the out come would have been pretty…" He looked down feeling slightly ashamed.

Sonic shrugged it off. "Well, what matters now is that we're outta there and we're going to rescue Leo's friend and stop Eggman."

"Speaking of your friend, Leo," Amy sat down in her seat, which was behind Leo and stood up on it as she continued, "what's she like? Is she nice?"

Leo nodded. "Oh, yeah, she's nice most of the time, and she cares about her friends and stuff. And she's pretty good at cheering people up, even for no apparent reason. The only thing she hates are spiders and, uh, 'not so nice people'. Oh, and Eggman, too."

Sonic smirked. "I think I'm already starting to like her, we at least have one thing in common! Heh, heh."

"She sounds like a great person, I can't wait to meet her!" Amy replied.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention that Ruby is also very smart. She mostly gets A's and B's. She rarely gets anything below that, except on one of her 'off days'. But, everyone has those once and a while."

"Wow," Tails said slightly impressed. "So she's a photographer _and _has an 'A's & B's' average? That's pretty cool."

"Why are we even talking about a person who we have never met!"? Knuckles roared without warning. "What really matters is finding Eggman and that 'batgirl' who stole the Master Emerald! Nothing else!" He sourly crossed his arms.

"Hey, Knuckles, if losing that Master Emerald thingy is a big deal for you," Sonic said in a slightly louder tone, "think how big a deal it is for Leo; his BEST FRIEND just got kidnapped! Think about it, he's just as worried about his friend, as you are for the Master Emerald."

Knuckles slouched in his chair, with his hands still crossed, looking a little ashamed. He closed his eyes and then said to Leo, "Sorry." Leo just grinned back.

"Hey, no harm, no foul, Knuckles. And I'm sure we'll find your Master… thing-a-ma-bob."

"…It's called 'The Master EMERALD." Knuckles grumbled.

Leo just laughed then looked out of the window again. _'I wonder if Ruby's doing okay…'_

_Back on the ARK, in the Central Control Room…_

"I do **not **feel okay!"

I clutched my stomach and tried to look sickly as possible. Eggman sighed in annoyance. "Alright, fine, I'll get you some medicine to make your stomach feel better… but if you _really_ need to throw up, do in that trash can in the corner over there." He said pointing and then he left.

'_Good...'_ I thought. I held out a walkie-talkie. "This is _Miz Zorro_ to Agent Rouge. Part one of operation… um, did we even have a name for this, over?" I said into the walkie-talkie like I was clueless.

"**Erm, no we didn't, but nice code name, _Miz Zorro_."** She joked. I giggled a bit, but not for long. She then gave me instructions on what to do next. **"Okay, you ready for Part 2? Over."**

"That's a 10-4, over." I responded.

"Alright, then. Go on the computer. Eggman probably didn't have enough time to shut it down, so I need you click the file that says 'Professor Gerald'."

I moved the mouse to the file that said 'Professor Gerald', but when I did, a pop up came up that said, "Enter user data". _'Uh, oh…'_ I thought. _'Not good…'_

"Rouge? It won't let me get in without a pass—"

"**Holy--! Ruby, log off! NOW!"**

"WHAT? Uh- uh-" I fumbled with the mouse and quickly clicked the "X" button and ran over to the trash can and pretended to throw up. At that moment, the door slid open and Eggman walked back in with a medicine bottle in his hand.

"Ah, here we go. 'Calms stomach aches and upset stomachs…' Whoops. Looks like I got here a little too late…" He grumbled as I he saw me bending over the trashcan.

"Urp! Erg… ah, that's much better." I picked my self up. "Sorry, I think it was just, um, eating too much fruit or something.Well, I guess that's what I get for mistaking thosw prunes for giant raisins. I didn't mean to trouble you, sorry!"

I then ran out of the room. Before I exited it I hear him mumble, "Hmph. Who knew kids were such health maniacs?"

I made a right and went down a hall until Rouge glided over to me and I stopped running. I bent over apologetically. "I'm so sorry I messed up! I didn't know I needed a password in order to get in! Really! I'm really, really sorry!"

"Chill out, kiddo. You did great!" Rouge said reassuringly. "Actually, this was just to make sure that we needed a password in order to get in. I'll take care of the rest, sugar. Thanks." She started to walk away, but I stayed in place.

I looked at her hard. _'Hmm… something tells me that that's not the only reason why she needed me to try to sneak into Eggman's computer. Maybe, she was using **me** as a… no, she wouldn't. Would she?'_

"… I think there's something _else_ that you're after besides info on 'Project: Shadow'." I stated and walked away as well.

I heard Rouge stop walking and saw at the corner of my eye that she smiled a bit. "I'm tellin' ya, kiddo- we could **definitely **use someone like you for a secret agent."

"When I'm older." I reminded her and she left.

'_Yeah, that would be cool, I guess.' _I smiled at myself and giggled a little. Me, a secret agent? Who knows? I'm still a kid, and anything could happen.

"What's with that ridiculous little smile of yours, girly? Did you just win the lottery?"

Oh. Shadow. That could happen, too. (_Groan…)

* * *

_

**S. Kat: Oh, goodie. Looks like Ruby is gonna have to put up with Shadow yet again.**

**Ruby: Save me! (cries)**

**Shadow: Hey, you're just as big of a pain in the—**

**Ruby: Don't make me get a group of "Shadow fan girls" in here to accidentally stampede all over you!**

**Shadow: …! (eye twitches rapidly)**

**S. Kat: Thanks for reviewing, y'all! Now if you would be so kind as to do it again, I'd be extremely happy! R&R and no flamz! Bye! **


	11. Digging Deeper into the Truth

**Hi everybody! How're you all doing today? Sorry that this is a little late… the power at my neighborhood went off and on a few times and it sort of disconnected my computer from the internet! And as I was working on this chapter, I experienced the worst thing in a writer's life: (Cue Dracula music) I GOT A WRITER'S BLOCK! NOOOOooooo! That was the first time in my life that I've experienced such a thing! Really! But it's okay now, I got pass the writer's block, it actually only lasted for about 2 days, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. But I'd rather NOT have another one again! Heh, heh. Anyway, here's chapter 11!**

**Disclaimer- Again, I don't own Sonic and Co. I own the nosey photographer, Ruby and the crazy kid, Leo.**

**Ruby & Leo: Hey!

* * *

**

**Shadowed Photo **Ch. 11- Digging Deeper into the Truth

'_Here we go again…'_ I thought as Shadow slowly walked up to me. His face was serious and dark as it always is. _'We'll I might as well brace myself, I'm in for one heck of a lecture…'_ He was only a few feet away from me. _'Here it comes…'_ He stopped right in front of me and stared at me heard, his hard, blood red eyes burrowing into my soft chocolate brown eyes. He closed his eyes and sighed. Then he… walked right past me…? And then said, "C'mon, we're taking a walk."

'What…? Huh…? What ever happened to the cold-blooded-killer-Shadow? Why is he not being… evil? Why does he want to take a walk? AND WHY DOES MY HEAD HURT?'

Apparently, I had gotten a headache while screaming these questions in my mind and was now swaying back and forth in my dizziness while clutching my head. I saw Shadow turning around and had a 'this-is-the-weirdest-human-I-have-ever-met' look plastered on his face.

"…Are you going to faint, kid?" I finally regained my balance and shook my head rapidly.

"Erm, no! Sorry, I just have a little headache, I'm good now!" I said reassuringly. I quickly followed him to… where ever we were going.

_10 minutes later, in the Lounging Deck…_

"…so that's why you should never go into the east wing of the ARK if you don't want to shrivel up and die by the chemicals…" Explained Shadow. I had **almost** gone into a certain room that I didn't know was poisonous inside and technically, Shadow was explaining to me why I shouldn't go in there. (And partly because I wouldn't stop asking him.)

"Ah." I nodded my head.

"Anything else you want to annoy me about?" He mumbled. Was he joking for once? Hmm, probably not. I thought for a minute.

"Actually, yes." I paused for a moment, gathering up my courage. "Who… is…" I began slowly. "Who is Maria?"

He flinched.

There. I asked it. '_Way to go, Ruby. Now he's really gonna kill me, at least a dozen times over.'_

I made no eye contact with him. I was on the floor leaning against the wall while Shadow was gazing out the window. The heavy silence lasted for a moment. I was begging for him to say something, even if it was just to blow me off. Finally, he opened his mouth.

"Dang, I knew you would ask that eventually, I just didn't think it'd be so soon…"

Huh? He was expecting me to ask him? "Whoa, wait a minute! You mean to tell me that **you** knew that **I** knew about…"

He cut me off short. "_Don't say her name."_ He hissed. I gulped and stuttered at bit.

"O-okay… um, c-could you p-please answer my question… for once…?" I said, my voice shaken a bit. He looked super hard into my eyes again, in his usual cold hearted way. Darn it! How is he always able to do that! How can _he_ make me shut up, but I can never get _him_ to be quiet, too? Oh, wait. Forget that I asked that…

Shadow looked at my face and looked a little shocked, like he did something wrong… what! Shadow showing shame? Yeah, right! But… he did… just now… in front of me… but…

"…Why?"

"H-huh…?" I looked at him again. Was there… sadness in his eyes? Was that even possible for him to even _posses_s that emotion?

"Why… is it that," He began very slowly, "… you remind me of her…?"

I was silent. What did he mean _'you remind me of her'_?

'_Wait, so that means…_ I thought. _'…He must **have** known Maria! Maybe they were friends! But why did he look so sad just now?'_

Shadow opened his mouth again, hesitantly. "She was… the youngest one aboard the ARK. She was actually pretty close to your age, but she probably was about a year older than you before she—" He abruptly stopped short.

"What… happened?" I asked cautiously. There was another heavy silence for another moment.

He swiftly turned around and said in a slightly harsh tone, "She died, a long time ago." Yet another silent pause. "Tell anyone what I said to you, and I'll _really_ stuff you into an air tight prison cell." He said in a warning tone. And not in the kidding way, either. Then, he started to walk away. "I need to take care of some business." And he went super sonic and he was gone. I stood there alone, feeling like I just witnessed the murder of a baby kitten. **(Ack! I can't believe I just said that! Get that horrible image out of my head! XX) **I almost felt like crying, but I didn't know why! I turned my head to the window and looked out at the stars… and a space rocket. Wait! Rewind! Did I just say 'a space rocket'?

My eyes widened. It really was a space rocket! And it was heading towards the ARK! But, the real question was: Who was the sucky pilot that was driving it?

In the space rocket… 

"KNUCKLES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Screamed everyone on the ship (minis Knuckles). Knuckles had sensed the Master Emerald's presence and in his "excitement", he snatched the pilot seat and was trying to fly into the ARK. Everyone was trying to pull him off of the pilot controller (I don't know what it's really called…).

"Let me go!" Roared Knuckles. "The Master Emerald is somewhere on that space colony! We have to get in there!"

"We have to find an opening first, Knuckles!" Tails tried to explain calmly. But that didn't help Knuckles at all…

"You want an opening? Well, **then I'll make one for you!**" He pushed forward on the steering stick. The ship suddenly picked up speed. Then the idea hit them; Knuckle was going to crash them into the ARK! The rest of them screamed on the top of there lungs, especially Leo, who's scream was almost as girlish as Amy's.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

_CRASH! BAM!_

_Rattle, rattle…_

The aftermath was actually quite funny if I do say so myself. Here's what the picture was: Leo was clutching to his chair, Amy was hanging over another chair like a rag doll, and Sonic and Tails were under some boxes that had toppled on them when they crashed. And luckily, no one was hurt. As for Knuckles, well, he already took off running trying to find the Master Emerald.

"I guess he _really _wants his emerald thing back…" Leo said, letting go of the chair he was holding onto for dear life.

"Stupid… Master… Emerald…!" Grumbled Amy.

Sonic and Tails submerged from the pile of boxes. Sonic helped Amy get down from the top of her chair, which made Amy blush. "Thank you, Sonic!" She gleamed.

"Uh, you're welcome…" Sonic backed away a little from Amy. Tails walked over to Leo, rubbing his head because one of the boxes fell on his head. Luckily, it was a small box.

"Knuckles' piloting skills aren't very good…" He mumbled.

"Well, on the up side, we're in the ARK so now we can rescue Ruby and save the world!" Leo said in a positive attitude. "Alright! Vamos! Let's go!" Leo said while making hand signals indicating for them to 'get a move on'. Everyone followed and went on the search. Leo's expression changed from determined to worried. Sonic apparently saw his expression and ran up to Leo's side.

"Don't worry. I promise you, we'll find you're friend, no matter what." He gave him a determined grin.

"Guys!" Tails yelled. "Let's get in the X Typhoon! I'll put it on walk mode!" The group ran over to the plane that was connected to the space rocket and strapped themselves in. Getting in was the easy part, now completing the mission and getting out was the hard part.

Elsewhere with me and Rouge… 

Rouge and I were staring at the computer screen as it was loading. Rouge was sitting in the chair and I was standing next to her while leaning on the desk. "C'mon, c'mon… today would nice…!" Rouge mumbled. I rapidly tapped my finger in impatience. After the rocket had crashed into the ARK, I found Rouge and told her about Maria might possible have something to do with Shadow, despite the warning Shadow gave me, but as I say, what Shadow doesn't know won't hurt him… or me especially.

"Rouge, who do you think crashed into the ARK?" I asked her.

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea who it is and what they want." Rouge answered casually, not concerned at all.

"What if they're here to stop Eggman, too? Why don't we help them?"

"Because, if we help them, we'll miss out on finding out what 'Project: Shadow' is! And if you're right, Maria might have something to do with it." She explained. I nodded, but I really wanted to know who exactly crashed into the ARK. Finally, the computer brought up Maria's profile.

**Maria Robotnic Age: 12**

**Position: None**

**Family: Professor Gerald Robotnic; Grandfather**

**Whereabouts: Deceased, killed in 1954**

"So Shadow was right, she _did_ die…" I said. "And not only that, she was the granddaughter of Professor Gerald… but there's not a whole lot about her."

"Wait… Ruby?" Rouge had a serious look on her face. "Didn't you say that Shadow _knew_ Maria?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, in a way."

"Look at the date she died." She motioned her head towards the computer screen.

"1954…" I read out loud. Then I read it again. My eyes widened in realization. "1954?.! But that's about fifty years ago! And if Shadow really did know Maria… then _he _must be about…!"

"Fifty years old." Rouge finished for me. "Hmph, that's not bad for a gramps considering how he looks." She chuckled. "I think we have a pretty good idea who 'Project: Shadow' really is now! All we need to do is get some proof—"

"**Rouge!"**

Eggman's big fat face flashed onto the screen. Without warning Rouge kicked me in the back and sent me flying to underneath the computer. _'OOOUUUUUUUCH! That really hurt, Rouge!' _I whined in my mind. I was on my stomach with Rouge's foot resting on my back with some pressure on it to keep me down. I was thankful I didn't land on my camera; otherwise I would've crushed it!

"Yes, Eggy-Poo?" Rouge responded. **(Eggy-poo? –Chuckle,chuckle-)**

"**It seems that Sonic and his annoying friends have infiltrated the ARK. You need to activate the security system, now!" **

"No problem, Eggy. Just give me the password and I'll do it."

"**M-A-R-I-A. Maria." **He slowly said. **"And don't mess this up! Oh, and by the way, get Ruby. She may prove to be useful after all. Mwahahahahaha!" **The his face disappeared and Rouge took her foot of my back.

"Crud! Ruby, you need to get out of here!" Rouge pulled me out from under the computer as I stood up.

"Wait!" I blurted out. "What did Eggman mean when he said—"

Rouge sighed and said. "He's going to use you as a hostage against Sonic and the others." I gasped. _'M-m-me? As a hostage? How could he? I didn't do anything! I'm innocent!'_

She then grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the hallway. "Now listen to me very, very carefully, Ruby." She said in a low tone. She pointed down the hall. "Go down the hall for a little while until you've reached a fork in the hallway, then take a right and keep going strait until you find a room that says 'Escape Pods'. Go in there, get in one of the pods. Once you do, press the green button that says auto pilot and it will take you somewhere safe. Now get going."

"WHAT?" I shouted. "But what about _you_?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm a secret agent." She winked at me, with her hands on her hips. "He won't be able to catch me that easily!"

My eyes began to water. _'Does this mean I won't see you again? You were the only one who was really nice to me…'_ I rubbed my eyes and tried to smile a little. I raised my hand in salute. "Understood, Agent Rouge! Agent Ruby Gemmon signing out!" She saluted back and I took off.

I followed directions and ended up in the exact room where Rouge told me to go. I sure enough, there was a medium size ship in the middle of the room. I walked up to it and was about to open it until I could have _sworn _on my great-grandfather's grave that I heard a _very_ familiar voice that was calling out to me…

"Ruby!"

"Leo…?" I called. "LEO?"

"Ruby! Where are you!"

"I-in here!" I tried calling again. I wasn't to sure where the voice was coming from, but I was positive it was Leo's voice. I looked around franticly for Leo. _'Darn it! This place is so big that the voices of someone can vibrate off the walls! So it's really impossible to find someone in this stupid place! Argh!' _I decided to sprint to the door and start looking for him, but as soon as I opened the door—

BONK! 

I bumped into someone, in the head I might add… very hard. I fell flat on my bottom. "Oww… oooooh… that hurt…!" I finally looked up and saw Leo's face. I was speechless, but in a good way. "L-Le…o…? Is that really you…?" Tears of joy started to sprinkle down on my face. "LEO! It _is_ you! Waaaaaaaaah!"

"Ruby!" He cried in joy. I lunged at him to give him a friendly, bone-crushing hug, like I always do when I haven't seen anyone for a long time.

But, instead a hug in return, Leo gave me a big fat nuggie.

"This is what you get for trying to grab your camera when I said 'Let go, Ruby!' " he shouted in a teasing tone. I started giggling like crazy.

"Ack! Leo! That hurts! S-stop already! Hee, hee! Ha ha!" He continued with his 'nuggie of pain for disobedience.'

"Say the password, first! Say it!" He urged me.

"I-I…I'm…!" I tried to choke out.

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE! NOW **_PLEASE_ **LET—" I gagged from the lack of oxygen—"ME GO!"

Seeing how he was chocking me he immediately let go. Leo usually didn't rough house around me because I was a girl, but if I did something stupid, he would sometimes playfully punch me or almost choke me, forgetting I was a _girl._

"Are you okay?" He asked urgently.

"Well, that nuggie really hurt, but I'll survive." I said happily.

"Erm, well, I'm sorry about that, too, but what I meant to say was were you hurt in any way before I gave you that nuggie?" He said, slightly blushing.

"Oh, so _now_ your concerned about my welfare?" I put my hands on my hips and pouted. Then I smiled at him warmly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good! Now let's get out of here before the robots come! We've got to get back to Tails!" He grabbed my arm.

"Tails? You mean Miles 'Tails' Prower? As in _Sonic's_ friend?"

"Yep. Long story short; I found Sonic and the others and asked for their help." He said like it was no big deal. He did a heroic pose. "Please, feel free to indulge me in praise!"

"Uh, Leo?" I tapped him on the arm. "How about _after _we get out of here?"

"…yeah, good point."

* * *

**Alright! That's chapter 11! So what will happen next? Will Ruby and Leo be able to escape the ARK on time? And will Sonic and friends be able to save the Earth, too? And why does Ruby remind Shadow of Maria even though they're two different people? Find out next chapter! Oh, and don't forget to click that little blue button on the bottom of the left side of the screen. In other words… REVIEW! And no flamz, plz. TTFN! **


	12. Promises

**S. Kat: (pant, pant) Hi… every… one… (huff, puff)**

**Leo: …! What's wrong with YOU?**

**S. Kat: Band… c-camp… I'm… so exhausted! And… it's giving me trouble working on my story! (Sighs in pity) They make us march around on the field dozens of times and go over routines and songs all day long! My ankles feel like they're gonna fall off!**

**Leo: Ouch! Poor you!**

**S. Kat: But, it isn't so bad. At least I know that the hard work will pay off, and it really helps build endurance! **

**Leo: (smiles and pats author on back) Way to look on the bright side, S. Kat! **

**S. Kat: Tee, hee! Thanks! Well, anyway-- **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic and Co., for the millionth time! Actually, for the twelfth time. Ah, well. Oh, and I DO own Ruby and Leo!**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 12- Promises

"ACK!" I squealed as a robot barley hit me. "Eeeeeeeek! Look out, Leo--!" I shouted.

"CRUD!" Leo ducked as a robot swung its arm. It had been like this for a while. This was just great! First, we got lost, and now we were being chased by robots! And they just appeared out of nowhere! All of a sudden, the ARK began to shake and the alarm was going off and all of these guard robots appeared! We were having no such luck as to finding Sonic and the others.

Another robot stopped up in our tracks, ready to fire at us. _'Oh, no…'_ Leo and I turned the other way, but there was another robot blocking our path. _'This is it…! Goodbye, Leo, Mom, Dad, Ricky, Rouge, Shadow… what? Wait, when did **Shadow** get on my friends' list?'_ Both of the robots were charging up to fire at us. We braced our selves…

**KABLAM!**

Leo and I both opened our eyes to find… WE WERE NOT DEAD! YAY! **(Sorry, I just had to put that there…X3)** The robots blew up in front of us, covering us in ash. Leo and I coughed and gagged a bit. When the dust finally cleared, we found two large holes on both sides of the hallway, like something blasted right through the wall. We were lucky that whoever or whatever did that, it got the robots, too.

"Whoa! Leo, did you see that?" I asked pointing at one of the walls. Leo stood there with his mouth agape and slowly shook his head.

"Uh-uh, they were moving way too fast! But I can't believe they went through the wall…!" He said amazed. We both snapped back to reality and kept going.

After a while, we were passing a room and heard a crashing sound from inside it. I stopped and tugged on Leo's shirt. "Leo, did you hear that crashing sound?"

"Huh?" He turned back to me.

"Listen." I commanded him. We both hear another crashing sound, but this time, it sounded like someone was fighting. "It's coming from that room!" I gestured him to follow. "C'mon! It might be Sonic!" He nodded and followed. The door to the room was already open, by force! We ran inside to find it completely destroyed.

"Whoa…!" I cried in amazement. "Who the heck did this?"

Suddenly, there was another explosion that went through the wall and tow figures from the holes dashed at each other and started to fight. Leo and I stood there in shock at how fast the figures were moving. One of them stopped moving and I could recognize that it was Sonic! The other one stopped too, who was Shadow!

"Sonic!" Leo cried out. Sonic whirled around to look at us.

"Leo…? What are you doing…! Wait, is that your friend there?"

That was when Shadow turned his attention towards us. "Sh-Shadow…" I stuttered, feeling slightly terrified. He did not show any emotion. He just stared at me. But his stare turned into a glare.

"Now, where do you think you two are going, hm?" He said evilly. That tone of his voice made my spine shiver. Sonic dashed towards him.

"Leave them out of this, faker!" He rammed right into him and both of them went flying into the wall. We couldn't see anything, but we heard Sonic's voice, "Leo! Get you and Ruby out of here! Hurry! I think something bad is going to happen very soon! Go find Tails and the others! Now!"

"Alright, then!" He shouted back. "Let's go, Ruby." Quickly turned back to Sonic.

"Thank you, Sonic!" Then I ran off with Leo. _'I hope Sonic will be all right… and that Shadow doesn't kill him!'_

We continued to run until the ARK shook again. I gasped in shock while I held onto a pole for support. "Kyaaaaaa! What's going on!"

"The heck if _I_ know!" Shouted Leo.

As if things couldn't get any worse, it did; when the ceiling began to crumble and was about to fall on top of us! I shut my eyes, waiting for my fate to be sealed. Then, all of a sudden, a red echidna stepped leaped above us and smashed the rocks with his fists. He landed right in front of us. (I also noticed he was carrying a **_VERY_** big emerald, too.)

"Knuckles! Long time, no see!" Leo greeted.

"Yo, Leo." Knuckles smirked. "Is that your friend… uh, Ruby, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Ruby, this is…"

"Knuckles the Echidna! Wow!" I jumped up and down. I ran up and shook his hand. "It's very nice to meet you! I'm Ruby Gemmon! Thank you so much for helping Leo rescue me!" I gave him a warm smile and let go of his hand-- then went on with my ranting. "Man, Ricky's not going to believe that I shook hands with Knuckles the Echidna…! Hee, hee. He's going to hate me for sure…!"

"…Ooooookay… are _all_ kids this friendly now a days?" He asked in confusion.

"Sorry, I usually try to be nice towards people… if it bothers you…"

"**I didn't say that it bothered me!"** Knuckles boasted, shaking his hands back and forth. I giggled, which made Knuckles turn red—um, **redder**. He then cleared his throat. "Anyway," he said, changing the subject, "have you two found Tails, Sonic or Amy yet?"

"Oh, yes! We saw Sonic fighting Shadow!" I informed him.

"What!" He roared. "Is he still fighting him?"

"We don't know!" Leo and I yelped in union.

"**Knuckles!" **A voice echoed on the loud speaker. **"This is Tails! Bring Ruby and Leo to the main computer room right now! It's urgent!"**

"Tails?" Knuckles rotated his head waiting for a response. "How did you know that they're with…? Ah, forget it." He picked up the Master Emerald again (which I stared at him because the thing was so freaking HUGE), and signaled us to follow. "C'mon, this way." He took a step forward, until Leo called out to him.

"Hold it, Knuckles! This could be a trap!" Leo stated, closing his eyes and crossing his arms like he was 'Mr. Know-it-all'. "He's probably using some kind of gadget to make himself sound like Tails and kidnap us and take the Master Emerald."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I bet that's it!"

"**Ha ha ha. Very funny, kid…" **Eggman's voice crackled on the speaker. **"But fox-boy, here is right. So I suggest you get yourselves over here right this instant!" **

"Okay then, Doc." Knuckles mumbled. "Hey, you two get on my back!" He barked. We hesitated for a moment.

"Um… are you sure you can carry _all _of us…?" I asked. He didn't give me a response, though. He just chucked Leo and I on top of the Master Emerald and took off.

Now let's fast forward to 30 seconds later… 

"Are you two getting off now?" Knuckles asked while slightly shaking the Master Emerald. Even though Knuckles was very strong, he was also very fast, but not as fast as Sonic, but fast enough that Leo and I were clutching to the emerald for dear life.

"Nev…er… again…" Leo and I whispered, before we finally slid off. Tails, Amy and Rouge were already waiting for us, but there was no Sonic.

"Okay, so what's going on, Eggman?" Knuckles asked.

"Well…" Eggman began. "Long story short, when I put the Chaos Emeralds into the Eclipse Cannon, it activated some sort of defense mechanism, and the ARK is now on a one way collision course with the Earth!" Everyone in the room had a look of shock on their face. "Apparently, my grandfather, Professor Gerald, used this as a plot for revenge for what happened 50 years ago. And, not only we will die, the collision will be so catastrophic, it could destroy the entire planet."

'_WHAT!'_

"But…" he continued slowly, "there is a chance we might be able to save ourselves and the entire planet!"

"Wha…? So now you're a good guy?" I cocked my head to the side.

"Guess so." Sonic smirked.

"Wha da heck?…!" Leo and I screamed. "Weren't you just fighting Shadow?" Leo asked.

"Hah… he escaped…but, I can beat that faker anytime of the week!" He said with his smirk still in place. "Alright Eggman, what do we have to do?"

"We have to get to the center of the ARK and destroy it." He explained. "But to do that I need all of your help."

"Okay, I think we all agree, then." Sonic announced. He turned to Amy, Leo and I. "Amy, look after Ruby and Leo while I'm gone."

"B-but Sonic--! Will you be… okay…?" She asked, worried. All that Sonic did was smile and replied,

"Don't worry, Ames, I'll be okay!" And then he was gone. Amy stared at the spot where her knight and shining armor once stood. Then she began to blush madly.

"OOOOOOH! HE'S SOOOOOO COOL!" She swooned. Leo sweatdropped.

"Geez… what is it with females and being weird whenever a guy says something?"

Amy puffed out her cheeks in anger. "Hey! You forget that I'm not the **only** girl here!" She shouted. "And you know Sonic is the coolest, what do you think, Ruby?"

They didn't receive a reply. To tell you the truth, I actually had already left…

_Elsewhere…_

I ran franticly down the hall. I couldn't believe I was even doing this. But, I knew that Sonic and the others needed all the help they could get! But why, oh, why did I convince myself the ask _him_ of all people?

'_Because… he really isn't evil.'_

'_He's just misunderstood.'_

'_He's a just angry because he lost someone very important to him…'_

'_It's not his fault, others would feel the same way as him…'_

'_He needs to give people a second chance… he just has to!'_

I was only a few feet away from the door leading to the lounging deck.

'_He has to be in there!' _

I slammed my hand on the button.

'_He must!'_

As soon as I was in the room, I put my hands on my knees and panted heavily. Shadow was in his usual spot, staring at me. _'I… I made it… now I just got to convince him…'_

"Shadow… please…" I looked at him with pleading eyes. "I'm begging you… PLEASE help them!"

I took another breath and continue. "I know you and Sonic don't like each other that much… but, the Earth will be destroyed if you don't—"

"That's exactly what I _want_ to happen." He retorted. "Those selfish creatures _deserve_ to die."

"What?.!" I was appalled. "How can you say such a thing? What did they ever do to you?"

"They took away a life of an innocent girl!" He shouted in disgust. "Maria didn't do anything, but they killed her anyway! She didn't deserve to die…"

"But neither do _they_!" I stepped forward. "I'm very, very sorry that your best friend, Maria died… but not all people are bad! I know for a fact that some are… but, there are people down there that do good, and help others!"

"Feh. You're wrong. Humans are selfish… and always will be! That's why they killed her! Because of their own selfishness! They're all like that!"

That made my blood boil. "You don't know that for a fact!" I was now shouting back at Shadow. "Have you even given them a _chance?_ Not even one?"

Shadow's eyes widened, as if he just saw a ghost. Was it something I said?

"People make mistakes… and some are selfish, too… and mean… but, there really are good people down there, maybe some of them like Maria… but, you will never know if you don't give them a chance." Tears started to form in my eyes. "Please, give them a chance… just one. Wouldn't Maria want you to do that, Shadow?"

That did it.

"…now I know why." He whispered softly. "I know why you remind me of her." He wasn't looking at me anymore, instead he turned his body to the side, as if he was hiding something. "Both of you… have a lot of qualities in common. You try to be friendly with people who you don't know, and try to see the good in people, no matter what they used to be like… but she still loved the Earth… she promised we would go down there together… she also said something about giving them a chance…"

I was very shocked. This is not what I was expecting at all, but did that mean that he would help or not? I decided to speak again. "Please, if you won't do it for me, do it for Maria! She'd want you to! Wouldn't she? She would want you to save the planet she loved… and it's people."

I heard footsteps coming close. "Ruby!" Leo and Amy cried. When I turned around to see them, they stopped dead in their tracks, with the look of confusion on their faces. "Ruby? What is going on?" Leo asked, surprised. I turned back at Shadow, who was walking past me. After he walked past Leo and Amy he stopped.

"Ruby."

"H-huh?"

"I'll help, only because you made me realize that I need to keep my promise to Maria. After all," he paused and looked back at me, and was smiling with confidence. "I wouldn't be a very good friend if I didn't keep my promises, now would I?"

I smiled with relief and hope I quickly wiped away my tears. "Thank you… so much. Now…" I put my self into a confident position. "GO TO IT, SHADOW!"

He gave his 'Shadowed Grin' one more time and ran as fast as he could to Sonic and the others.

'_Thank you, Shadow. I knew you weren't evil! Please don't let the Earth down!'_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**To be continued… don't you just HATE that saying? Well, sorry folks, but, that 's how they make people watch there shows! (lol) And, I'm sorry this is late… again. But I just started band camp, so I don't have a lot of free time anymore, and my weekends are getting busy. On top of that, I GO BACK TO SCHOOL IN TWO MORE WEEKS! OO Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Oh, well. We all knew it was going to happen eventually, huh? Well, at least I wasn't sitting on my butt all summer. Working on this story was so much fun! And I'm actually starting high school, so that outta be fun:P But, this story is coming to a close. It'll probably be over in one or two more chapters… it's kind of sad in a way, isn't it?  But don't fret, my people, for I shale return! So, you all know the drill by now. Leave a review and no flamz! Bye!**


	13. This is the end?

**S. Kat: Hey, peoples! It's me! This is the second to last chapter for Shadowed Photo… sadly. But like I said before, I'm thinking about making a sequel, but not until much later. And if you have any ideas, please wait until next chapter to share them. Now that that's done, Shadow, would you like to do the disclaimer this time, please?**

**Shadow: … … saphireKat does not own me, that faker (Sonic), or any his little friends. She owns Ruby and Leo.**

**S. Kat: (Oo) Oooooookay… then… uh, here's chapter 13!**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 13- This is the end?

Shadow ran in zigzags to avoid the laser beam that was being shot at him. Apparently, my hypothesis on that there was a giant, bionic lizard in the ARK was correct! It was called the _Biolizard,_ and it was _Shadow_ who was fighting against it! Don't you just _hate_ when you're right sometimes?

Luckily for Leo, Amy, and I, we weren't in the same room as Shadow and the others, we were in the main control room, watching Shadow kick the lizards butt on the computer! Everyone else except Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles were in there, too. Everyone, including me, were tense while we watched the battle.

"YEAH!" Leo and I cheered at the screen. "C'MON, SHADOW! YOU CAN DO IT!"

"Kick that overgrown thing to Mars!" Yelled Leo.

"Forget Mars!" I shouted. "Send it to Neptune!"

"He can't **hear **you, ya know…" Rouge mumbled. (For those of you who were wondering, Rouge was okay all along, she showed up sometime when the others were trying to get to the center of the ARK. And she _did_ help, of course.) Then there was another explosion on the screen! We couldn't see anything! Eggman fumbled with the buttons to try to get an image.

"Blast it!" He cursed. "We lost camera #102!"

"Is that bad?" I asked.

"Yes, if we want to find out the outcome of the battle is! And if the outcome is **bad** then…"

"**Don't even _say _that last part." **Amy warned.

"Everyone is thinking it, _I _was just saying it…" He scowled.

"S-so," Leo said nervously, "what do we do?" Eggman paused for a minute, then turned to Leo and I.

"Wellllllll…" He said evilly, "if you must know…" Leo and I held our breath. What was he going to say? What did we have to do to help?

He then smirked.

"…we have to do absolutely nothing."

**Wham!**

"Don't scare them like that!" Amy and Rouge scowled after they hit him on the head. Rouge had kicked him and Amy "tapped" him on the head with her hammer.

"I was being truthful!" He said rubbing his head. "There's nothing we really can do other than pray that Shadow comes through! But, he has a good chance of winning though, since he _is _the ultimate life form…"

'_Well, Eggman is probably right, he does have a good chance, but…'_

Then an idea popped into my head.

_'…he might have an even BETTER chance of winning if he has a Chaos Emerald! Wait, what exactly happened to them?'_

"Um, excuse me, but if Shadow had a Chaos Emerald, would he have a **sure** chance of winning?" I asked.

"With a Chaos Emerald? Of course he would! But, unfortunately, that creature that Shadow is fighting already has the Chaos Emeralds. It's a good thing that it isn't using them against him, yet—eh?"

Leo and I had already left, again.

"Ugh!" Groaned Rouge. "Ruuuuuubyyyyyy…!"

_In the same room as the Biolizard, Shadow, Knuckls, and Sonic…_

Leo and I were one deck above Shadow and the Biolizard. Sonic was watching Knuckles' back while Knuckles was guarding the Master Emerald.

_'Wha? What are they going to use that thing for? It kind of looks like their waiting to use it…'_

"Uh, Ruby?" I turned my head towards Leo. "Why. Did. You. Drag. Me. Here?"

"Duh! To help Shadow!" I explained. "Eggman said something about that the Biolizard had swallowed the Chaos Emeralds or something, so we need to help Shadow distract it for at least a second."

"…Is…" Leo hesitated. "…Shadow… I mean… Do you really trust him now?"

"…yes." I answered clearly. "Yes, I do. The thing about Shadow is he isn't really evil, he's just had rough in life and he's misunderstood."

Leo stared at me in awe. He looked a little dumbfounded by what I was saying, but I guess he decided to just go along with it. He turned his gaze to a huge barrel shaped machine that was almost hanging over the edge of the platform. It looked like it would just fall down if you pushed it over by accident, but it was pretty big, too. "Hey, I think I've got an idea!"

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he had in mind; we were going to push the machine off of the platform and onto the monster's head. Pretty simple, right?

WRONG. Dead wrong. We _did_ try to push it, but the thing was so darn heavy! "Grrrrr!" Leo growled as he moved on his back to push it. "It's… too… heavy for us…!"

"We've still… gotta try! Or…"

"Need some help with that, kids?"

"Knuckles?…!" We gasped. "How'd you…?"

Knuckles appeared next to Leo, helping us push the machine. "You **do **know…" he grunted, "…it's impossible for just two kids to tip this baby over."

"Oh, give it a rest, Knucklehead." Rouge said as she kicked the machine continuously. "I highly doubt that that's gonna stop them. Kids today are just soooo stubborn these days!"

"Hey!" Leo and I whined.

"Well, at least it's for a good cause!" Amy swung her hammer at the machine. I actually think it was starting to move a bit! Our plan was working! If only we had a few more people…

"Need some assistance?" A robotic voice said next to me. It was Bocoe and Decoe, Eggman's two robots! **(Who'd 'a thunk it?)**

"YOU two? But why?"

"For two reasons, Miss Ruby." Bocoe stated. "One: Because the doctor ordered us to." **(How predictable…)**

"And two:" Continued Decoe. "We also want to help! It's a good thing to do heroic deeds every once and a while."

"Well, looks like we're all in this together now!" Cheered Sonic. Leo and I nearly jumped at his sudden appearance, but it also wasn't that surprising, either.

"Guys…" I whispered. I sniffed and then shouted to everyone else, "OKAY, EVERYONE! GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT ON THREE! ONE… TWO… **THREE!**"

All at once, with everyone's strength, we shoved the machine as hard as we could, hoping it would work, it had to! But as we were pushing it, the Biolizard's tail slammed into the wall, which conveniently, edged the machine towards the edge even further. With one more strong shove, we were able to tip the machine over! It crashed onto the monster's head and let out a terrible, ear aching scream. I covered my ears as I looked down. Shadow was frozen in place, slightly confused as to what just happened. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted down to Shadow.

"SHADOW! Finish it off now while it's distracted!" Leo ran up to my side.

"C'mon, Shadow! Do it now!" He shouted. Shadow looked back at the Biolizard with a confident smirk.

"Sorry, you disgusting piece of abomination, you're finished!" He then went into his ball mode and span faster and faster. The Biolizard lashed its mighty tail at him, but Shadow shot upwards, ricocheted off the ceiling and made a 90 degree downward fall to the Biolizard and destroyed the life support system on it's back with one blow. It made a huge explosion and then, for some reason, it just disappeared… but I didn't think anything of it. Shadow appeared in the middle of the room again, slightly panting. Then he turned his gaze upwards to where Leo and I were.

"He did it!" Leo and I cried as we gave each other high-fives. "Ha ha! **We so rock!**"

All of us, including Sonic and the others ran down to Shadow. The Chaos Emeralds were lying on the ground, but they weren't shining like they usually were, they looked so… dull and powerless.

"**Don't celebrate yet!"** We heard Eggman's voice on the speaker. **"Shadow, that creature is still alive! It's attached it's self to the Eclipse Cannon! And not only that, it completely drained the Chaos Emeralds' powers!"**

"You've got to be kidding me!" Cried Leo.

"This… this is the end?" I asked in horror.

"Ol' Eggmam didn't say anything about that yet…" Smirked Sonic. He turned to Knuckles. "Yo, Knuckles! Think you can power up the Master Emerald?"

"No problem." He grinned. He ran up to the Master Emerald and put his hands up. I couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but it sounded like he was chanting something. And whatever he was doing, it was working! The Chaos Emeralds started getting their color back, and started glowing, too! Sonic and Shadow stood in the center as the Chaos Emeralds circled around them. They both closed their eyes and started glowing. Sonic turned a bright yellow and his eyes turned amber. Shadow's fur turned into a more golden color, but his crimson eyes and stripes stayed the same.

Sonic turned to Shadow, "You ready?"

Shadow nodded. "Let's do this!"

I was speechless. _'Wow… is this happening for real?'_ I thought, amazed. _'I think… this must be their "Super Form". I knew Sonic had one, but I didn't know Shadow had one, too. Even though their personalities are totally different, they have a lot of special abilities in common. Maybe, together, they can save the Earth!'_

"Good luck, Shadow…" I whispered silently. "From all of us…"

_Soon afterwards…_

They had won. They had won the fight. Shadow _and_ Sonic. It all happened so fast, I could hardly remember the fight. All I really remember was that they were flying around the 'Final Hazard', giving it everything they've got, then seeing two bright lights… the monster was gone. Including Sonic and Shadow. But, as soon as it was over, I could have sworn I saw something plummeting to Earth. I thought it might have been a piece of the thing Sonic and Shadow fought, though, I was a little more concerned about their whereabouts.

'_Hmm… where are they?'_

"Hey, where did Eggman run off to?" Asked Leo.

"Oh, Eggman? He ran off." Answered Rouge. "I guess he's going to figure another way how to take over the planet without getting himself killed next time…" She sighed.

"What!" Leo exclaimed. "After all that, he _still_ wants to take over the Earth?.!"

Knuckles shrugged. "Heh. Well, what do expect from that guy? He's just too stubborn to give up that easily."

"Look who's talking." Rouge said slyly.

"Sh-shut it, bat girl!" Knuckles roared. "Don't make me it back when I saved your life!"

That caught my attention. "Eh? 'Saved your life'? Oh…! So that's why you disappeared, Rouge. What happened between you two, hmm?" I cooed. Rouge and Knuckles were about to open their mouths in protest until the door opened.

"SONIC!" Amy and Tails cheered, they rushed forward towards him.

"Sonic, that was _amazing!_" Cried Tails.

"My hero--!" Amy cheered again and was about to hug him until we all realized that something was wrong.

"Sonic?" I questioned him. "Where is Shadow?"

Sonic slowly walked up to me and looked into my eyes solemnly. Then he bent down his head and shook it.

"No…" I whispered. "No… no… no! He can't be—he's not supposed to—he's the Ultimate Life form! He—he' not supposed to—" I choked on my own words. "—be dead!" That's when the dam broke and I started crying.

_'Why? Why, why, why! I… I wanted to… I wanted to pay him back for saving us all and keeping Maria's promise! I wanted to be… his friend.'_

"I found this. Shadow had this with him." Sonic handed me a photograph, but not just any photo, it was the one that I took! I rubbed my eyes and stared at the photo.

"He… had it with him the entire time?" I took it and carefully examined. It looked like it was still in good condition. An extra tear fell from my face and onto the photo.

"Ya know, I think Gerald wanted Shadow to save the Earth all along." Rouge stated.

"I guess… we'll never know for sure." Said Leo.

"Yeah…" Sonic sighed. "Let's head for home." We all headed for the door, Leo put his hand on my shoulder and directed me out. But I noticed Sonic didn't follow us right away. It looked he was mumbling something to himself. I turned my head to Leo.

"Leo…? Could you excuse me for a sec?" He raised an eyebrow in concern. "I just want to look at something real quick. It'll only take me a second."

Leo nodded and smiled warmly like he understood. "Sure, Ruby."

I smiled back. "Thanks, Leo." He patted me on the shoulder and then followed the others. I walked towards Sonic.

"This," I began, "used to be Shadow's favorite spot to look at the Earth."

"Yeah, he got himself a pretty good view, too." I agreed. I frowned a little.

"If only, his view on other people were just as clear to him…"

"I bet it is now for him." I looked down at Sonic. "It is now."

I nodded. "Uh-huh." Then we made our way to the door. I stopped short before completely exiting and gazed at Shadow's spot one last time. In my mind I could see him looking at the Earth hard, his reflection in the glass serious. And then he would turn his gaze behind him to where I was standing and gave me his shadowed half smile. But, I wouldn't get the chance to ever see him do that. I clutched the photo to my chest and uttered,

"Good bye forever, Shadow the Hedgehog."

And with that, I exited the ARK.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**S. Kat: Well, I'm pleased to say that that's chapter 13. This chapter was kind of sad at the end… (sniff) But this is NOT the last chapter! I'm putting on ONE more chapter before I close up this story! But I still can't believe this story is almost over. Heck, I probably could have stopped it here, but… I wanted to give you all a little tease… hee, hee! And I'll give all of my thanks to people next chapter, too, so that's another reason why you should all come back! Oh, and sorry to **_Riley Killer_** for not being able to update before your school started! (Dang it! Why do I always have to apologize for every single little thing?.!) Oh, and (heavy sighs) I START SCHOOL THIS MONDAYYYY! (Roles over and dies) (Then brought back to life, again) But… I'm happy about one thing… 'cause next Wednesday… I GET TO SEE _Pussycat Dolls _AND _Black- Eyed Peas _IN CONCERT, WITH MY BEST BUD, LUCILE! AND ON A SCHOOL NIGHT! (Jumps up and down like a maniac, singing PCD's and BEP's songs)**

**Sonic: (whispers) If you guys don't know who the _Pussycat Dolls _and the _Black-Eyed Peas_ are, just go along with it.**

**S. Kat: And this is my FIRST flipping concert! WOOT-WOOT! (pant, pant.) (silence) Okay, well, I'll see you all sometime next week for the final chapter for Shadowed Photo. And pleas R&R and no flamz! Adios me amigos! **


	14. Epilogue: Magic Trick?

**Hello my people! This is the last, I repeat, LAST chapter of "Shadowed Photo". Kind of sad, isn't it? (Tear, tear) Well, before we go on with the final chapter, I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed this story. And I _do _mean _everyone_: **_Aura24, choco aardvark, Blackmooninthenight, MJ the Seal, Sonic21541, gothic-chao, Tanja the Bat, AnimeCrazy88, Sparkling Spirit, Riley Killer, bionicle-girl, Hibiki-chan, Omicron the IceQueen, Shadow-fire-luver, pikminleader81, krystalhedgehog and Light Twilight Darkness._

**Thank you all for your kind reviews, support, ideas, and suggestions. I would like to give a big 'thank you!' to **_Sonic21541 _**on being a 'nit picker' with my spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. (hee, hee )! It really helped improve my grammar a lot! (Even though there was one occasional misspelling once and a while, but it just goes to show you that no one is perfect!) **

**And I would also like to thank **_MJ the Seal_ **for being the first person on my 'favorites authors' list to review my story! And for just being plan funny when she reviewed! (LOL!) **_MJ, _**YOU SO ROCK OUT LOUD! As for a reward, here's a big chocolate cake for you smothered in chocolate icing and Hershey's chocolate bar bits! (gives you cake) **

**Ruby: (smiles) Tee, hee! Amy, Cream and I made it our selves!**

**Amy: We hope you like it! Oh, and we've got cake for the rest of you who reviewed too! (gives cake to other authorities)**

**Cream: I _did _drop one teeny, tiny little eggshell in though… but, I'm sure it'll taste OK…**

**Me: (stares) (trembles with joy) I LOVE YOU! YOU'RE JUST TOO CUUUUUTE! (huggies 3)**

**Cream: (blushes) Ah ha ha! I like you too, _saphireKat!_ Um, can Ruby, Amy and I say the final disclaimer?**

**Me: Sure! Take it away, girls!**

**Ruby, Cream, & Amy: _saphireKat _doesn't own Sonic and Co.! She owns Ruby and Leo! Thanks so much and enjoy the last chapter!**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Shadowed Photo** Ch. 14- Epilogue: Magic Trick?

"So what happened then, sissy?" My little brother asked in a pleading voice. "Huh? Huh?" I chuckled at his curiosity. We were out in front of the house, sitting on chairs.

"Simple," I exclaimed to him, "I tossed my camera at him and ran like crazy until I got to the park with Leo. After that, we went back to his house to get the picture develop and prove Sonic was innocent of his crimes he was charged with."

"Ricky, you've heard this story a thousand times!" My aunt rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever get tired of hearing the same story over and _over_ again?"

"Oh, it's not really the same story, Auntie Topaz!" Ricky explained. "When I asked Leo to tell me the story, he tells me something totally different."

"Tells you something different?" Aunt Topaz and I asked. Ricky nodded.

"Yeah, when I asked Leo what happened, he said that Shadow tried to lunge at you, but Leo was able to block his attack while you were screaming for your life! Then you two ran." He stated plainly. I felt rage boil up inside of me.

'_Leo…! You… stinking… stupid… moron!' _I uttered in my mind. _'That boy's gonna hear and earful from me!'_

Aunt Topaz just smiled and stifled a giggle.

**(Authorities:** **Wait a minute--! "Aunt Topaz?"! The government agent? As in, Rouge's partner?.! (As seen in Sonic X.))**

Oh, sorry. Let's rewind 6 months earlier, shall we?

_Flashback…_

_We had just arrived back on Earth in the space rocket. We landed inside a pyramid in the middle of the desert. I was still sad about Shadow, but I stopped crying. I held on to the picture of Shadow and Sonic, even in my sleep, the whole entire trip! _

_Rouge came with us, too, seeing as she didn't have a ride back to Earth. As soon as we exited the rocket, I saw a lady in a GUN uniform that looked a lot like my Aunt Topaz, who was also working as an agent for GUN. Then I realized it REALLY was her!_

"_Aunt Topaaaaaz!" I wailed. She turned around with a startled expression on her face as I lunged at her and gave her a hug._

"_W-wh-what! Ruby?.!" She hugged back. "What happened?.! Are you hurt? What are you doing here?" She asked in an alarming voice._

" '_Aunt Topaz…?'" Asked Rouge in disbelief. "I **thought** it was coincidental that you two are named after gems!" I looked up at Rouge with a quizzical expression._

"_How do you know Aunt Topaz?" I asked._

"_Oh," she responded casually, "your 'aunt' and I are partners."_

"_EH? REALLY?"_

_End flashback…_

So since Rouge is really my aunt's partner I get to see her from time to time when she's not on missions; or trying to steal Knuckles' Master Emerald. I also was able to pick up some fighting moves too while Aunt Topaz and Rouge were training! I'm almost as good as Leo, now, but he still has the upper advantage because he's been training longer that I have.

Oh, and speaking of which, ever since the ARK incident, Leo has been training a lot harder with karate than he was before. It's kind of odd, but he says he thinks that something else exciting might happen to us in the future. I've been getting that same feeling, but I'm to sure _what _will happen.

"Hey, hey, Ruby!" I turned my head to see Leo pulling up into the driveway with his bike. "Yo, Ricky! Wuzzap?" He high-fived Ricky and turned to me. I raised my hand to high-five him, but quickly pulled my hand back and glared at him.

" 'Screaming for my life', huh?" I sneered. "_That's_ how you remember it?"

Leo decided not to play dumb this time. "O-oh… you mean that. L-look, I was only kidding around, Ruby! I had to make my self look good, ya know? You of all people understand, don't you?" He asked, a hopeful look in his eye. I smiled at him slyly.

"Oh, I understand perfectly, Leo…" I scoffed. "…That you're a BIG. FAT. L-I-A-R."

He looked at me shocked. "H-hey, now! That's no way to talk to your best friend, is it? I was only kidding around! Honestly!" He pleaded.

'_Rouge was right," _I sneered._ 'Teasing boys IS fun!'_

"Ha ha!" I giggled. "Chill, Leo. I'm only playin' with you!" Leo looked at me, shocked and dumbfounded.

"That wasn't nice! You're no better than Rouge!" Leo pouted and turned away. I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty… Leo looked back at me and gave me his goofy smile. "Ah, it's okay, Ruby. I was only kidding, too." I scowled at him.

"Okay, now **that's** not nice." I protested. But I soon grinned back at him. "So," I said changing the subject, "whad'ya come over for?"

Leo smiled mischievously. "Well, I was on my way over hear when I spotted something in the stream by my house, and so I took a look and found…" He slowly reached into his bag. "…THIS!"

Aunt Topaz, Ricky and I stood there with out mouths gawking.

"IT'S A… CHAOS EMERALD?.!" It was actually the same green Chaos Emerald Shadow had used 6 months ago. Then Aunt Topaz slapped a hand on Ricky's and my mouth.

"Shh!" She hissed. "Do you want Rouge to find out? You know she's willing to do anything to get her hands on a Chaos Emerald! And Leo, put that thing away!" She ordered.

But before he was able to put it away in his pocket Rouge (speak of the devil) swooped in and snatched it…

"Aw, a Chaos Emerald for me?" She cooed. She was a few feet up in the air, floating. "Leo, your such a nice, little boy!"

"I ain't little!" Leo roared. "And give that back! I found it first and we were planning on using it as a memorial for Shadow!" We all looked at him surprised. "That's why I took it with me!"

_'Leo…'_

"Rouge, c'mon." Aunt Topaz called. "Give it back."

"Yeah, please, Rouge?" Ricky whined a little. Rouge sighed then looked down at me. She hesitated and then a disappointed look tugged at her face.

"Here." She said as she gently tossed down the Chaos Emerald. "Since it's for a good cause and you're not a bad kid, I'll make an exception, but just this once." _(Rouges POV: 'Waaaaaah! Why do I ALWAYS have to be nice to this kid?.!')_ She turned around, while still in the air, hiding her **deep **disappointment. She was about to fly away until I called out to her.

"Uh, Rouge! Wait a second!" She turned around. "Um, look I… really appreciate you letting me keep this Chaos Emerald… so, if, uh, we ever go on a mission together or something, I'll find another gem for you to pay you back! I promise!"

"You know, I still can't get over the fact how you're always so honest and sweat… just like your-"

All of a sudden, the Chaos Emerald in my hands began to glow.

"Wh-wh-wh-what's going on—!" Then I was engulfed in the green light. (De ja vu, huh?) I squeezed my eyes shut. _'What's going on?.? What's happening?.!'_ I opened my eyes and looked around for the others. And what I saw—it was just so weird—I was above the ground, as if I was _flying_, but everything was still; as if I _stopped time itself._

"I don't like this…" I said, horrified. "I don't like this! Stop make it stop!" I shouted, and too abruptly, it stopped. But I was 50 FEET IN THE AIR!

"AAAAAAHH!" I yelped. I shut my eyes once more, waiting for the impact of hard cement, but the impact never came, Rouge had actually caught me just in time! She landed on the ground and set me down. No one moved, no one spoke, neither did I. We just stared at each other. Finally, Ricky piped in.

"Sis! That was so cool! You were standing here one minute, and then the next you just disappeared! How'd you do that?"

I looked back at Ricky wearingly.

"Um, magic?"

I couldn't just tell him I did 'Chaos Control'…

'…_or did I…?'_

**_The End—For now…_**

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**IMPORTANT! READ!**

**S. Kat: Ha ha! I bet none of you were guessing the ending would be like this, huh?.! So did Ruby REALLY use 'Chaos Control' on her own, or with some help…? Well, if you guys want to find out, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO READ THE SEQUEL! Booyah!**

**Leo: Okay, you know what? That "booyah" was kind of random…**

**S. Kat: Whatev. Anyway, people, I am going to make a sequel, but as I've said before, I'm going to post that Inu-Yasha fanfic that I've been working on forever with my friend. If any of you are interested of reading it, please do! I'm going to put it up whenever I can because school just started and my parents are expecting me to do my homework & studying first, then computer stuff. And in my house hold, this is how it goes: "Homework is most important; you always do your homework first." And besides… if I DO my work, I'll get some rewards along the way… (hee, hee)**

**Ruby: (nods) Hmm, I've never really liked homework, but that's surprisingly clever…**

**S. Kat: Thank you. Also, if any of you have any suggestions with my next story, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEAAASE SHARE! I'm idea-less! And don't worry, Shadow's going to make a come back in my next story! And if you have any questions about the characters, story, anything at all, don't be afraid to ask. Oh, and ONE MORE THING: If it's not too much to ask, I'd like you guys to give me your overall opinion on the story and tell me which was your favorite chapter; so that way in know what you guys like the best! **

**Well, this is so long, but don't worry my people… for I shall return! BYE-BYE!**


End file.
